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Hostwares

Getting Started

Deploy your first site on Hostwares in under 5 minutes. No server configuration needed.

1. Create an Account

Sign up at hostwares.com/register with your email and password. You'll get immediate access to the dashboard with:

  • 1 free site deployment
  • 500MB storage
  • 10 AI assistant credits per month
  • Community support

No credit card required. Upgrade anytime from Dashboard → Billing.

After registration

You'll land on the dashboard at /dashboard. From here you can:

  • Deploy new sites and databases
  • Manage existing deployments
  • Chat with the AI assistant
  • Purchase AI credits
  • Submit support tickets

2. Deploy Your First Site

From the dashboard, click New Project and choose your deployment method:

Option A: GitHub Repository (Recommended)

  1. Enter your public GitHub repository URL
  2. Select the branch to deploy (default: main)
  3. Hostwares auto-detects the framework and configures build settings
  4. Click Deploy
Example: github.com/your-user/my-nextjs-app
Branch: main
Build command: npm run build (auto-detected)
Start command: npm start (auto-detected)
Port: 3000 (auto-detected)

Option B: Docker Image

Deploy any image from Docker Hub or a private registry:

Image: nginx:alpine
Port: 80
Environment: production

Option C: Dockerfile

Paste a Dockerfile and we build it on our servers:

FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --production
COPY . .
RUN npm run build
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["npm", "start"]

Option D: Ask the AI

Simply tell the AI assistant what you want to deploy:

"Deploy my site from github.com/user/my-app"
"Deploy nginx:latest on port 80"
"Create a new Node.js site from my GitHub repo"

3. Connect a Domain

After deployment, add a custom domain from your site's settings page.

DNS Configuration

Add an A record at your domain registrar pointing to the Hostwares server:

Type: A
Name: @ (root domain) or subdomain
Value: <server-ip> (shown in your dashboard)
TTL: 3600

For the www subdomain, add a CNAME record:

Type: CNAME
Name: www
Value: yourdomain.com
TTL: 3600

Verification

After adding DNS records, verification usually takes 5-30 minutes. Check status via:

  • Dashboard: site settings shows verification status
  • AI: "Check DNS for my-site"
  • Terminal: dig yourdomain.com +short

4. Enable SSL

SSL certificates are automatically provisioned via Let's Encrypt once your DNS is verified. No manual action needed.

  • Certificates are issued within 2-10 minutes of DNS verification
  • Auto-renewed 30 days before expiry
  • HTTP automatically redirects to HTTPS
  • Support for wildcard certificates (Business plan)

If SSL doesn't activate within 15 minutes, check the SSL troubleshooting guide.

5. Using the AI Assistant

The AI assistant is your 24/7 DevOps engineer. Access it from Dashboard → AI Assistant or the chat sidebar.

Example commands

"Deploy my site from github.com/user/my-app"
"Add domain example.com to my site"
"Show me the deployment logs"
"Restart my container"
"Why did my build fail?"
"Set up SSL for my domain"
"What's my site's current status?"

Credit usage

Each interaction costs credits based on complexity:

ActionCredits
Simple question1
Action (restart/deploy)2
Log analysis3
Complex multi-step task5

Supported Frameworks

Hostwares auto-detects and configures the following frameworks:

JavaScript / TypeScript

  • Next.js — Full SSR/SSG support, standalone output
  • React (Vite, CRA) — Static build + serve
  • Vue / Nuxt — Full SSR support
  • Svelte / SvelteKit — SSR and static
  • Express / Fastify — Node.js servers
  • Remix — Full stack

Python

  • Django — Auto-detect manage.py
  • FastAPI — ASGI server
  • Flask — WSGI server

Other

  • Go — Binary compilation
  • Rust — Cargo build
  • PHP / Laravel — Apache/Nginx
  • Ruby on Rails — Puma server
  • Any Dockerfile — Full custom control

Project Structure Tips

For the smoothest deployment experience:

  • Include a package.json (Node.js) or requirements.txt (Python) in the root
  • Include a lockfile (package-lock.json, yarn.lock, pnpm-lock.yaml)
  • Set "engines" in package.json to specify your Node version
  • Create a .env.example documenting required variables
  • Ensure your app listens on process.env.PORT (default 3000)
  • Add a Dockerfile for custom build requirements

Next Steps

Now that your site is deployed, explore these guides:

Next

AI Assistant