Stack allows building and deployment of a system of related containerized applications as a single "stack". Transparently deploy to local Docker, Podman or to remote Kubernetes.
An unedited recording of the Docker quick start below, followed by the same stack deployed to a real Kubernetes cluster. Regenerate it with ./demo/k8s-host.sh create && ./demo/record-quickstart.sh (see demo/README.md).
Stack is useful for a wide category of software applications including those that have a web app component, back-end services and optionally a database: web systems. Development of such a system ususally begins on a laptop where it's quick and easy to prototype concepts, try things out and iterate. Once the system is ready for users it needs somewhere to run that stays up — reachable by colleagues, customers, or the public at a real URL, whether or not the laptop lid is open. That step is called deployment, and the common option today is to hand it to one of the "Platforms". The PaaS can provide hosting but also brings a growing bill, limits on what you can run, and configuration you can't take with you. Stack is the PaaS-free alternative: define your system once, then deploy that same definition with one command to local Docker while you develop, to an ordinary rented VM to serve real users, or to a Kubernetes cluster when you genuinely need scale, with no vendor lock-in at any step. If you're wondering which of those you need, start with From Laptop to Production.
Let's build and deploy an example stack for the canonical "Todo" web app (LLM-generated of course). This stack comprises the web app front-end, an api back-end and its PostgreSQL database.
First we'll deploy to local Docker. Then deploy the same stack to Kubernetes.
# clone / build
stack fetch repo bozemanpass/example-todo-list
stack prepare --stack todo
# init
stack init \
--stack todo \
--output todo.yml \
--deploy-to compose \
--map-ports-to-host localhost-same
# create the deployment from the config
# (the parent directory must already exist)
mkdir -p ~/deployments
stack deploy --spec-file todo.yml --deployment-dir ~/deployments/todo-docker
# start / status / logs / stop
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-docker start
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-docker status
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-docker logs
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-docker stop
# clone / build
stack fetch repo bozemanpass/example-todo-list
stack prepare --stack todo --publish-images --image-registry registry.myexample.com/myimages
# init
stack init \
--stack todo \
--output todo.yml \
--deploy-to k8s \
--kube-config /path/to/.kube/config \
--image-registry registry.myexample.com/myimages \
--http-proxy-fqdn example-todo.myexample.com \
--config REACT_APP_API_URL=https://example-todo.myexample.com/api/todos
# create the deployment from the config
# (the parent directory must already exist)
mkdir -p ~/deployments
stack deploy --spec-file todo.yml --deployment-dir ~/deployments/todo-k8s
# push image tags for this deployment to the image registry used by Kubernetes
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-k8s push-images
# start / status / logs / stop
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-k8s start
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-k8s status
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-k8s logs
stack manage --dir ~/deployments/todo-k8s stop
- Gitea stack: https://github.com/bozemanpass/gitea-stack
- A sign in with Ethereum web app with fixturenet blockchain: https://github.com/bozemanpass/siwe-express-example
- Todo List Web App with back-end: https://github.com/bozemanpass/example-todo-list
Stack runs on Linux, macos and Windows under WSL2. Both x86-64 and ARM64 are supported.
To get started quickly on a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 instance (e.g, a Digital Ocean droplet); try this script.
WARNING: Always review downloaded scripts prior to running them so that you know what going to happen to your machine.
If you have uv installed:
uv tool install --from git+https://github.com/bozemanpass/stack stackStack is written in Python and so needs a recent Python 3 on the machine. It also needs either docker or podman installed, and these utilities: git, jq. The full installation instructions show how to get these but if you're already set up, proceed:
Stack is distributed as a single-file self-extracting script. The latest release can be downloaded like this:
curl -L -o ~/bin/stack https://github.com/bozemanpass/stack/releases/latest/download/stack
chmod +x ~/bin/stackDetailed documentation on the installation of stack and its prerequisites as well as how to update stack can be found here.
See the CONTRIBUTING.md for developer mode install.
This is a fork of https://git.vdb.to/cerc-io/stack-orchestrator intended for more general use.