Deploying a Coolify instance

Coolify is an open-source, self-hostable Platform as a Service (PaaS) — an alternative to Heroku, Netlify, and Vercel that lets you deploy applications, databases, and services on your own infrastructure. American Cloud's marketplace ships a one-click Coolify image so you can be up and running in a few minutes.

Create the Coolify VM

1. In the left navigation, under Compute, select Virtual machines, then click + Create VM in the top right.
2. On the Create virtual machine page, fill in the Configuration section:
   • VM name — for example, coolify.
   • Region — for example, US West (Zone 1).
   • Package type — Standard Custom.
   • Deploy from — choose the Marketplace App tab.
   • Marketplace app — Coolify v4.1.1 (or the latest available).
   • Operating system — the recommended OS shown by the marketplace image (for example, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (recommended)).

3. In the Network field, leave Create one for me unless you want an existing VPC.
4. Under Network access, expand Inbound internet access and click Set up now. This reserves a public IP and opens the ports Coolify needs:
   • Inbound ports — keep SSH (22/TCP), HTTP (80/TCP), and HTTPS (443/TCP) checked.
   • Additional ports — add 8000 (TCP). The Coolify dashboard runs on this port.
   • Source CIDRs — 0.0.0.0/0 to allow access from anywhere, or use My IP to restrict it to your address while you set things up.

5. Set the sliders in Hardware Specifications to fit your workload. A minimum of 2 vCPU / 2 GB memory / 50 GB root disk is a sensible starting point for a single-server Coolify install.
6. In Options, choose a Billing period and check the SSH keys you want to attach so you can ssh into the VM later.

7. Click Create VM.

Save the VM password

After the VM is created, the portal shows a VM Password dialog once. Click Show to reveal it and Copy it into a password manager before closing — it cannot be retrieved later.

Once the VM reaches the READY state, copy its public IP from the details page.

Access Coolify

Open the Coolify dashboard in a browser:

Coolify access: http://<public-ip>:8000/

For example, if the VM's public IP is 203.0.113.42, browse to http://203.0.113.42:8000/.

The first time you visit the dashboard, register a user account and sign in.

Welcome screen

Coolify walks you through a short onboarding. On the Welcome to Coolify screen, click Let's go!.

Choose a server type

On Step 1 — Server, pick This Machine (Quick Start). This deploys directly on the Coolify VM you just created and skips the SSH key exchange you'd need for a remote server.

Tip: If you'd rather run Coolify here and deploy workloads to another machine, pick Remote Server instead and follow Coolify's prompts to add its public key to that server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

Finish setup

On Step 3 — Complete, Coolify confirms the server, project, and Docker engine are ready. Click Deploy Your First Resource to start creating apps, or Go to Dashboard.

Next steps

• See the Coolify docs for application templates, environment management, backups, and resource limits.
• For ongoing VM management (Power, Scale, Reinstall), see Cloud Compute.
• To attach a custom domain, see DNS management.