Documentation & Training

Learn CloudRail

Complete guide to deploying, scaling, and managing your applications on CloudRail. From first deploy to production-grade infrastructure.

Getting started

Deploy in 3 Steps

From zero to a live app in under 5 minutes.

1

Connect Repository

Link your GitHub repo with one click. CloudRail auto-detects your framework.

2

Configure & Push

Set env vars, attach databases. Push to your branch to trigger a build.

3

Go Live

CloudRail builds, deploys, and gives you a live HTTPS URL in seconds.

Complete platform guide

Every Feature, Explained

Deep dive into every CloudRail capability with visual walkthroughs of the actual dashboard experience.

01

Git Push Deploy

Connect your GitHub repository and every push to your configured branch triggers an automatic build and deployment. CloudRail detects your framework (Next.js, Express, Django, Rails, Go, etc.) and configures the build pipeline automatically.

  • Auto-detect 20+ frameworks and languages
  • Branch-based deployments (main → production, dev → staging)
  • Build caching for 10x faster subsequent builds
  • Automatic rollback on failed deployments
  • Build logs streamed in real-time
CloudRail — Deployments

my-saas-app

my-org/my-saas-app

Next.js 15
a3f8b2cfeat: add user dashboard
main34s2m ago
e7d1a9ffix: auth redirect loop
main28s1h ago
b4c2e8dchore: update deps
staging41s3h ago
9f3a1b7feat: add payment flow
main12s5h ago
02

Preview Environments

Every pull request automatically gets its own isolated environment with a unique URL. Share previews with your team, run end-to-end tests, and review changes before merging to production.

  • Unique URL per pull request
  • Isolated database instances for each preview
  • Auto-deploy on PR updates (new commits)
  • Comment preview URL on GitHub PR
  • Auto-cleanup when PR is merged/closed
CloudRail — Preview Environments

Active Previews

3 active
#42 Add user settings page
by sarahpr-42.my-app.cloudrail.ca
#41 Redesign landing page
by alexpr-41.my-app.cloudrail.ca
#39 Fix checkout flow
by jamespr-39.my-app.cloudrail.ca

GitHub PR Comment

CloudRail Bot deployed this PR:

https://pr-42.my-app.cloudrail.ca

Build completed in 28s

03

Custom Domains & Auto SSL

Attach your own domain to any service. CloudRail automatically provisions and renews SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt. Support for apex domains, subdomains, and wildcard certificates.

  • One-click domain attachment
  • Auto SSL via Let's Encrypt (free)
  • Zero-downtime certificate renewals
  • Apex domain + www redirect support
  • Wildcard SSL for subdomains
CloudRail — Domains

myapp.com

Apex

SSL Valid
Expires Mar 2027

www.myapp.com

CNAME

SSL Valid
Expires Mar 2027

api.myapp.com

CNAME

SSL Valid
Expires Mar 2027

staging.myapp.com

CNAME

SSL Valid
Expires Mar 2027
+ Add Custom Domain

DNS Configuration

Amyapp.com → 89.167.116.193
CNAMEwww → myapp.com.cloudrail.ca
CNAMEapi → api.myapp.cloudrail.ca
04

Managed Databases

Provision managed PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, or MySQL databases in seconds. Connection strings are automatically injected as environment variables. Automatic backups, connection pooling, and monitoring included.

  • PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, MySQL
  • One-click provisioning
  • Auto-injected connection strings
  • Automatic daily backups
  • Connection pooling for high concurrency
  • Database metrics and slow query logs
CloudRail — Databases
🐘

app-db

PostgreSQL 16

Storage

2.4 GB

Connections

12/100

cache

Redis 7

Storage

128 MB

Connections

8/50

🍃

search-db

MongoDB 7

Storage

890 MB

Connections

5/50

Auto-injected Variables

DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:****@db-xyz.cloudrail.internal:5433/app

REDIS_URL=redis://:****@redis-abc.cloudrail.internal:6380

05

Environment Variables & Secrets

Manage configuration and secrets securely. All values are encrypted at rest with AES-256. Scope variables per environment (development, staging, production) and bulk import from .env files.

  • AES-256 encryption at rest
  • Per-environment scoping
  • Bulk import from .env files
  • Auto-redeploy on changes
  • Masked values in logs
  • Shared variables across services
CloudRail — Environment Variables
DATABASE_URL
postgres://****
REDIS_URL
redis://****
API_KEY
sk_live_****
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY
sk_live_****
NODE_ENV
production
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL
https://myapp.com
All values encrypted with AES-256
06

Real-Time Logs & Monitoring

Stream build and runtime logs in real-time directly from the dashboard. Monitor CPU, memory, network, and request metrics. Set up alerts for anomalies and get notified instantly.

  • Live log streaming (build + runtime)
  • CPU, memory, network metrics
  • Request rate and latency tracking
  • Log search and filtering
  • Custom alerts via email/Slack
  • Log retention up to 30 days
CloudRail — Monitoring
CPU

42%

Memory

384 MB

Requests

1.2k/min

Live Logs

Streaming

12:04:32 INFO GET /api/users 200 12ms

12:04:31 INFO POST /api/auth/login 200 45ms

12:04:30 WARN Rate limit approaching for 192.168.1.1

12:04:29 INFO GET /api/projects 200 8ms

12:04:28 INFO WebSocket connection established

12:04:27 ERROR Failed to fetch from cache: timeout

07

Auto Scaling & Load Balancing

Scale your services from 1 to 10 replicas with a slider or let CloudRail auto-scale based on CPU and memory thresholds. Traffic is automatically distributed across all replicas.

  • Manual scaling: 1-10 replicas
  • Auto-scale based on CPU/memory thresholds
  • Zero-downtime rolling deployments
  • Built-in load balancing
  • Per-replica resource limits
  • Scale-to-zero for inactive services
CloudRail — Scaling

my-saas-app

Auto-scaling ON

Active Replicas (4/10)

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

Scaling Rules

Scale up when CPU > 70%Active
Scale down when CPU < 30%Active
Min replicas: 2 / Max: 10Configured
08

Usage-Based Billing

Pay only for what you use. Set spend limits to avoid surprise bills. Monitor your usage in real-time with detailed breakdowns by service, database, and bandwidth.

  • Pay-per-use pricing
  • Spend limits and alerts
  • Real-time usage dashboard
  • Per-service cost breakdown
  • Invoice history and receipts
  • Free tier: $5 credit for 7 days
CloudRail — Billing

Current Month

$24.50

of $50.00 limit

Plan

Pro

$20/seat/mo + usage

2 seats active

Usage Breakdown

Compute (CPU)$12.40
Memory$6.20
Databases$4.00
Bandwidth$1.90
09

Teams & Workspaces

Organize your projects into workspaces. Invite team members with role-based access control. Owners, admins, and viewers each get appropriate permissions.

  • Workspace-based project organization
  • Role-based access: Owner, Admin, Viewer
  • Invite via email
  • Audit logs for team activity
  • Shared environment variables
  • Per-workspace billing
CloudRail — Team

Workspace: my-startup

SC
Owner
AR
Admin
JP
Viewer
10

Instant Rollbacks

Roll back to any previous deployment with a single click. CloudRail keeps your deployment history so you can instantly revert if something goes wrong. Zero-downtime rollbacks with automatic health checks.

  • One-click rollback to any version
  • Zero-downtime rollback process
  • Automatic health checks after rollback
  • Full deployment history retained
  • Auto-rollback on failed deployments
CloudRail — Deployment History
v23a3f8b2cfeat: add dashboard
2m agoCurrent
v22e7d1a9ffix: auth redirect
3h ago
v219f3a1b7feat: payments
5h ago
v20b4c2e8dupdate dependencies
1d ago
v19c8e9f2aadd rate limiting
2d ago
11

Security & Compliance

CloudRail is built with security at its core. All traffic is encrypted with TLS, secrets are encrypted at rest, and the platform is designed for SOC 2 compliance.

  • TLS everywhere — all traffic encrypted
  • AES-256 secret encryption at rest
  • Network isolation between services
  • RBAC with audit logging
  • DDoS protection via Traefik
  • Regular security audits
CloudRail — Security
TLS/HTTPS
Enabled
Secret Encryption
AES-256
Network Isolation
Active
Audit Logging
Enabled
DDoS Protection
Active
Auto Certificate Renewal
Enabled
12

CloudRail CLI

Deploy, manage, and monitor your services from the command line. The CloudRail CLI gives you full control over your infrastructure with simple, intuitive commands.

  • Install via npm, brew, or curl
  • Deploy with a single command
  • Stream logs from terminal
  • Manage env vars and domains
  • SSH into running containers
  • Available on macOS, Linux, Windows
Terminal — CloudRail CLI

$ npm install -g @cloudrail/cli

+ @cloudrail/[email protected] installed

 

$ cloudrail login

Authenticated as [email protected]

 

$ cloudrail deploy

Deploying my-saas-app to production...

Building... done (18s)

Pushing... done (4s)

Deploying... done (8s)

Live at https://my-saas-app.cloudrail.ca

 

$ cloudrail logs --follow

2026-03-05 12:04:32 INFO GET /api/users 200 12ms

2026-03-05 12:04:33 INFO POST /api/auth 200 45ms

 

$ cloudrail env set STRIPE_KEY=sk_live_xxx

Variable set. Redeploying...

Framework support

Deploy Any Stack

CloudRail auto-detects and optimizes for your framework. Or bring your own Dockerfile.

N

Next.js

Full-stack React framework

next build

R

React

SPA with Vite or CRA

vite build

N

Node.js

Express, Fastify, NestJS

npm start

P

Python

Django, Flask, FastAPI

gunicorn app:app

G

Go

Gin, Echo, Fiber

go build

R

Ruby

Rails, Sinatra

rails server

D

Docker

Any Dockerfile

docker build

S

Static

HTML, CSS, JS

serve

For developers

API Reference

Programmatic access to your CloudRail resources. Deploy, manage databases, configure domains, and monitor services via REST API.

GraphQL API with full schema introspection
Bearer token authentication
Webhook events for deployment status
Rate limited to 100 requests/min
graphql
query {
  workspaceBilling {
    planType
    status
    currentUsageCents
    trialCreditCents
    services {
      name
      status
      replicas
    }
  }
}
bash
curl -X POST https://api.cloudrail.ca/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer cr_live_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ workspaceBilling { planType status } }"}'

Common questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Most deployments complete in under 60 seconds. CloudRail uses aggressive layer caching, so subsequent deploys are even faster. Initial builds for large projects may take 2-3 minutes.

Yes. If CloudRail detects a Dockerfile in your repo root, it uses that to build. You have full control over base images, build stages, and runtime config. If no Dockerfile is found, CloudRail auto-detects your framework and builds with Nixpacks.

CloudRail monitors CPU and memory in real-time. When metrics exceed your configured thresholds, it automatically spins up replicas (up to your max). When traffic drops, it scales back down. You can also manually set replica count.

Yes! CloudRail offers a $5 trial credit for 7 days. This includes 1 service, shared CPU, 512 MB RAM, managed databases, and automatic SSL. No credit card required. Startups can apply for up to $500 in credits.

All environment variables are encrypted at rest with AES-256. Values are masked in build logs and never exposed in plaintext. You can scope variables per environment (dev/staging/prod) and bulk import from .env files.

CloudRail automatically rolls back to the previous healthy version. The failed deployment is logged with full build and runtime logs for debugging. You can also manually roll back to any previous deployment.

Yes. CloudRail offers managed PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, and MySQL. Databases are provisioned in seconds with connection strings auto-injected as environment variables. Daily backups and connection pooling are included.

Yes. Attach any domain to your service with one click. CloudRail automatically provisions and renews SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt. Supports apex domains, subdomains, and wildcards.

Ready to Deploy?

Start deploying your applications in minutes. No credit card required.