Deploy
Overview
Orientation for the Deploy section
This section covers production deployments, the path from "Ionize runs on my laptop" to "Ionize serves real customers on real DNS."
Two paths
- Deploy with Deploy, the guided thirteen-step wizard. Best for most operators. Handles VPS provisioning, DNS, TLS, GitHub Secrets, and the first deploy.
- Deploy without Deploy, manual production deploy for operators who already have infrastructure-as-code or a non-supported provider.
Decision points
| Decision | Pages |
|---|---|
| Which VPS provider? | DigitalOcean, Hostinger, Direct SSH |
| Where does Postgres run? | Managed (Neon), Self-hosted |
| Which email provider? | Resend, Postmark, Brevo, SMTP2GO, Custom SMTP |
| TLS configuration? | DNS and Domains, Database SSL verify-full |
Production-only concerns
- Kratos Production Config, hardening differences from the dev config.
- Dev vs Prod, every field that differs between
compose.dev.ymlandcompose.prod.yml.
Once deployed, the Operate section covers the ongoing work.