Towlion — Self-Hosted Micro-PaaS

2 min read Original article ↗

systems online

Your server.
Your code.
Just git push.

A self-hosted platform that turns a single Debian server into a multi-app deployment machine. GitHub is your entire control plane.

deploy@towlion

# bootstrap your server $ sudo bash bootstrap-server.sh installing docker, caddy, postgres, redis, grafana... ✓ platform ready   # create an app from the template $ gh repo create my-app --template towlion/app-template ✓ created towlion/my-app   # push to deploy $ git push origin main ✓ deployed to https://my-app.example.com

01 / Capabilities

Everything you need,
nothing you don't

A complete deployment platform that lives entirely in GitHub. No dashboards to maintain, no APIs to learn.

GitHub is the control plane

Push to deploy. Open a PR to get a preview environment. Close it to clean up. GitHub Actions handles everything.

Multi-app hosting

Run multiple applications on a single server. Each gets its own subdomain, database, storage bucket, and isolated containers.

Automatic TLS

Caddy handles HTTPS automatically. Every app and preview environment gets a valid certificate with zero configuration.

Built-in observability

Centralized logging with Loki and Promtail. Grafana dashboards out of the box. Health alerts via GitHub Issues.

Fork to self-host

Fork any app repo, configure 4 secrets, push. You're running your own instance. That's the entire self-hosting guide.

Production ready

Daily backups, automated security updates, resource limits, credential isolation, and firewall rules out of the box.

02 / Workflow

Three steps to production

Zero to deployed in minutes, not days.

1

Bootstrap

Run one script on a fresh Debian server. It installs Docker, PostgreSQL, Redis, Caddy, and the full observability stack.

2

Create

Generate a new app from the template. FastAPI, database migrations, Docker config, and CI/CD workflows are pre-configured.

3

Push

Set 4 GitHub secrets and push to main. GitHub Actions builds, deploys, and configures your app automatically.

YOUR SERVER Caddy reverse proxy + auto TLS APPS App 1 App 2 App 3 DATA PostgreSQL Redis MinIO OBS Loki Promtail Grafana

03 / Stack

Boring technology,
done right

Built on battle-tested tools you already know.

Docker

GitHub Actions

Caddy

PostgreSQL

Redis

FastAPI

Next.js

MinIO (S3)

Grafana

Loki

Alembic

Debian 12

04 / Deploy

Ready to ship?

Stop paying for PaaS. Own your infrastructure. Deploy with confidence.