Self-hosting with Dokploy on Hetzner

2.1 Provision a Hetzner Cloud server

Hetzner Cloud is a German cloud provider — hourly-billed VMs, EU data residency, and cheaper per-vCPU/GB than AWS or DigitalOcean. Dokploy needs somewhere to run; this is that somewhere.

Create a Hetzner Cloud server running Ubuntu 24.04 that you can SSH into, sized to actually run Dokploy plus your apps.

Once the server is created, this is the one command that proves it is really up.

1. Create a Hetzner Cloud account and project at console.hetzner.cloud (or use an existing one).
2. Add a new server: choose location, image Ubuntu 24.04, and type CX33.
3. Add your SSH public key in the server‑creation form rather than a password.
4. Create the server; Hetzner boots it and shows its public IPv4 address.
5. Confirm you can reach it with ssh root@ and obtain a root shell.

• You'll see A root shell on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 box, reachable at a public IPv4 address.
• Takeaway Dokploy needs a real server underneath it — CX33 is the tier that survives adding a database, not just the Dokploy control plane on its own
• Check Why is CX23 (4 GB RAM, clears Dokploy's stated 2 GB minimum) not the recommended tier here?
• Cost €8.49/month for CX33, billed hourly — so deleting it early only costs the hours it ran, not a full month.

2.2 Run Dokploy and access its dashboard

Dokploy is a free, open-source (Apache-2.0) deploy platform — the self-hosted answer to "where do I put my app" that Vercel/Heroku/Netlify answer with a bill. One shell script installs the whole control plane: Docker, Traefik, and the dashboard.

Do this first Provision a Hetzner Cloud server

Get the Dokploy dashboard live on your Hetzner server and create an admin account

Run this over the SSH session from the previous lesson, as root.

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1. SSH into your server using ssh root@
2. Run the install script with bash <(curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh)
3. Open http://<server‑ip>:3000 in a browser after the script finishes
4. Create your admin account on the login page
5. Observe the empty project list on the dashboard

• You'll see The Dokploy dashboard at port 3000, logged in as admin, with an empty project list
• Takeaway One script turns a bare Ubuntu box into a PaaS control plane — Docker, Traefik, and a dashboard, all running before you deploy your first app
• Check What three ports does the installer need free, and what happens if one is already taken?
• Cost Free — Dokploy itself has no license cost; you are only paying for the Hetzner server from the previous lesson.

2.3 Trigger an auto‑deploy from a git push

Dokploy connects to GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Bitbucket, or Docker Hub and gives you a webhook URL. Push to the configured branch and Dokploy builds and redeploys automatically — the same shape as this curriculum's own Gitea → webhook → auto-deploy pipeline, just running on a server you control.

Do this first Run Dokploy and access its dashboard

Wire a git repo to Dokploy so a git push alone rebuilds and redeploys your app, with no manual SSH step.

In the Dokploy dashboard, click + New Application, then follow the prompts to select your git provider and repository; after saving, copy the generated webhook URL from the screen.

1. Create a new Application (or Compose, if your app has a docker-compose.yml) inside a Dokploy project using Create a new Application.
2. Connect your git provider — GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, or Bitbucket — and select the repository and branch with Connect your git provider.
3. Copy the webhook URL that Dokdeploy generates and paste it into your repo's webhook settings using Copy the webhook URL.
4. Push a commit to the configured branch via Push a commit.
5. Watch the build log stream live in the dashboard with Watch the build log stream live.
6. Open the app's Dokploy‑assigned URL after the build finishes using Open the app's Dokploy-assigned URL.

• You'll see A build log streaming in the dashboard after your push, then the app reachable at a Dokploy‑assigned URL — no SSH session, no manual docker compose up.
• Takeaway Once the webhook is wired, "deploy" is just "git push" — the CI pipeline is Dokploy itself, not something you hand‑build
• Check You pushed to main but the deploy never triggered. Given the branch-matching behaviour above, what is the first thing to check?
• Cost Free — this is Dokploy's core feature, not a paywalled one. Note the free tier caps you at 2 concurrent builds; a third push queues rather than failing.

2.4 Serve your app on a custom domain using HTTPS

Dokploy writes a Traefik router for your app and sets certResolver: letsencrypt — Traefik then requests and renews the certificate for you. No certbot, no cron job, no manual renewal.

Do this first Trigger an auto‑deploy from a git push

Your app runs at a real domain over HTTPS with an automatically issued and renewed certificate

The DNS record to create at your domain registrar before touching Dokploy — an A record pointing your domain (or subdomain) at the server's public IP.

1. Create an A record at your domain registrar that points to your Hetzner server’s public IP
2. Enter the domain name in the Domain field of your application’s Dokploy settings
3. Toggle the Enable HTTPS switch to activate automatic TLS provisioning
4. Wait while Traefik requests and obtains a certificate from Let’s Encrypt
5. If the app is a Compose stack, click the Redeploy button to apply the new domain label
6. Open https://yourdomain.com in a browser and confirm the padlock indicating a trusted certificate

• You'll see Your app is reachable at https://yourdomain.com showing a browser‑trusted padlock
• Takeaway Traefik handles the whole TLS lifecycle so you only need to point DNS and enable HTTPS in Dokploy
• Check You changed the domain on a Compose-based app and the old cert is still showing. What step did you likely skip?
• Cost Free — Let's Encrypt certificates cost nothing. The only cost is the domain registration itself, which this lesson does not cover.

2.5 Schedule S3 backups for Dokploy

A Dokploy backup zips Dokploy's own Postgres database and its /etc/dokploy config directory and pushes it to an S3-compatible bucket — S3 is currently the only supported destination. This backs up Dokploy's own state (your projects, settings, domain config), not your deployed apps' data.

Do this first Run Dokploy and access its dashboard

Create automated S3 backups of Dokploy’s state and know their limits

Enter this command in the SSH terminal on your Dokploy server; the CLI will guide you through selecting the S3 destination you added earlier and then immediately start a manual backup. Watch for the success message confirming the .zip was uploaded to your bucket.

1. Create an S3‑compatible bucket — use Hetzner Object Storage or any other S3 provider
2. Add it as a backup destination in Dokploy’s backup settings, supplying the bucket’s access key and endpoint
3. Schedule a backup with your chosen recurring interval
4. Trigger a manual backup to confirm a .zip lands in the bucket
5. Verify a restore on a disposable server to ensure the backup works
6. Set up a separate backup job for each app’s database so that app data is also protected

• You'll see A .zip file appears in your S3 bucket containing Dokploy’s database and config directory on the schedule you set
• Takeaway The backup safeguards Dokploy’s configuration, not the databases used by your apps – those need separate jobs
• Check Your server dies and you restore a Dokploy backup onto a new one. What comes back, and what is still missing?
• Cost A few cents per month for object storage — negligible next to the €8.49/month server cost.