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Available Providers

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DigitalOcean

Full provisioning support with automatic server creation.
  1. Create a DigitalOcean account
  2. Generate an API token in API settings
  3. Store token: lightfold config set-token digitalocean
lightfold create --target myapp \
  --provider digitalocean \
  --region nyc1 \
  --size s-1vcpu-1gb
Available regions: nyc1, nyc3, sfo1, sfo3, ams3, sgp1, lon1, fra1, tor1, blr1Popular sizes:
  • s-1vcpu-1gb - $6/mo
  • s-1vcpu-2gb - $12/mo
  • s-2vcpu-2gb - $18/mo
  • s-2vcpu-4gb - $24/mo

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Vultr

Full provisioning support with automatic server creation.
  1. Create a Vultr account
  2. Generate an API key in API settings
  3. Store token: lightfold config set-token vultr
lightfold create --target myapp \
  --provider vultr \
  --region ewr \
  --size vc2-1c-1gb
Available regions: ewr, sea, lax, atl, ord, dfw, ams, lhr, fra, sgp, sydPopular sizes:
  • vc2-1c-1gb - $5/mo
  • vc2-1c-2gb - $10/mo
  • vc2-2c-4gb - $18/mo
  • vc2-4c-8gb - $36/mo

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Hetzner Cloud

Full provisioning support with automatic server creation.
  1. Create a Hetzner Cloud account
  2. Generate an API token in API tokens
  3. Store token: lightfold config set-token hetzner
lightfold create --target myapp \
  --provider hetzner \
  --region nbg1 \
  --size cx11
Available regions: nbg1, fsn1, hel1, ash, hilPopular sizes:
  • cx11 - €3.79/mo (2GB RAM, 1 vCPU)
  • cx21 - €5.83/mo (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
  • cx31 - €10.90/mo (8GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
  • cx41 - €20.10/mo (16GB RAM, 4 vCPU)

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Linode

Full provisioning support with automatic server creation.
  1. Create a Linode account
  2. Generate an API token in API Tokens
  3. Store token: lightfold config set-token linode
lightfold create --target myapp \
  --provider linode \
  --region us-east \
  --size g6-nanode-1
Available regions: us-east, us-west, us-central, us-southeast, eu-west, eu-central, ap-south, ap-northeast, ap-southeastPopular sizes:
  • g6-nanode-1 - $5/mo (1GB RAM, 1 vCPU)
  • g6-standard-1 - $12/mo (2GB RAM, 1 vCPU)
  • g6-standard-2 - $24/mo (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
  • g6-standard-4 - $48/mo (8GB RAM, 4 vCPU)

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Fly.io

Container-based deployment with automatic global distribution.
  1. Create a Fly.io account
  2. Generate an API token: fly auth token
  3. Store token: lightfold config set-token flyio
lightfold create --target myapp \
  --provider flyio \
  --region iad \
  --size shared-cpu-1x
Available regions: iad (Ashburn), lax (Los Angeles), sjc (San Jose), ewr (Secaucus), ord (Chicago), ams (Amsterdam), lhr (London), fra (Frankfurt), sin (Singapore), syd (Sydney), nrt (Tokyo)Popular sizes:
  • shared-cpu-1x - ~$2/mo (256MB RAM, 1 shared vCPU)
  • shared-cpu-2x - ~$5/mo (512MB RAM, 2 shared vCPU)
  • dedicated-cpu-1x - ~$30/mo (2GB RAM, 1 vCPU)
  • dedicated-cpu-2x - ~$60/mo (4GB RAM, 2 vCPU)
Note: Fly.io uses container-based deployments with nixpacks (no SSH access). Pricing includes automatic scaling and global distribution.

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BYOS (Bring Your Own Server)

Use any existing server with SSH access.
  • Ubuntu 20.04+ or Debian 10+ (recommended)
  • SSH access with key-based authentication
  • Root or sudo privileges
  • Open ports: 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 22 (SSH)
lightfold create --target myapp \
  --provider byos \
  --ip 1.2.3.4 \
  --user deploy \
  --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa
Parameters:
  • --ip - Server IP address
  • --user - SSH username
  • --ssh-key - Path to SSH private key

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Coming Soon

AWS EC2

Amazon EC2 support

Google Cloud

Compute Engine support

Azure

Azure VMs support

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Provider Comparison

ProviderProvisioningCostRegionsNotes
DigitalOcean✅$6-24/mo11Great for beginners
Vultr✅$5-36/mo11Good price/performance
Hetzner✅€3.79-20/mo5Best value in Europe
Linode✅$5-48/mo9Reliable, good support
Fly.io✅~$2-60/mo11Container-based, global edge
BYOS❌VariesAnyUse existing server

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Multi-Provider Deployments

Deploy different targets to different providers: 
# Production on Hetzner (cost-effective)
lightfold deploy --target prod --provider hetzner

# Staging on DigitalOcean
lightfold deploy --target staging --provider digitalocean

# Development on BYOS
lightfold deploy --target dev --provider byos

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Provider Configuration

Configuration is stored per target in ~/.lightfold/config.json: 
{
  "targets": {
    "myapp": {
      "provider": "digitalocean",
      "provider_config": {
        "digitalocean": {
          "ip": "192.168.1.100",
          "username": "deploy",
          "ssh_key": "~/.lightfold/keys/lightfold_ed25519",
          "region": "nyc1",
          "size": "s-1vcpu-1gb",
          "provisioned": true,
          "droplet_id": "123456789"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
API tokens are stored separately in ~/.lightfold/tokens.json (0600 permissions).

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Choosing a Provider

DigitalOcean - Great documentation, simple interface, solid performance.
Hetzner Cloud - Best value, especially for European traffic. Fly.io for smallest workloads (~$2/mo).
BYOS - Use your current server or on-premise infrastructure.
Fly.io - Automatic global edge distribution with container-based deployments. Vultr for traditional VMs with more regions.
Linode (Akamai) - Enterprise-grade reliability with excellent customer support.

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IP Recovery

If your local state gets corrupted, Lightfold can recover server information: 
lightfold sync --target myapp
This fetches current server details from the provider API and updates your config.