Quickstart
The fastest path from a fresh install to a live app — start Openship, open the dashboard, and deploy one thing.
Just installed Openship? This page gets you to a live app in four short steps. Think of Openship as a little kitchen that runs on your own computer: you turn it on, open the door, hand it your code, and it cooks and serves the meal. No servers to rent, no config files to write.
What you need
- A computer running macOS, Linux, or Windows.
- Some code you want to put online — a GitHub repo, or a folder on your disk.
- No rented server and no config files — Openship runs on the machine you're on. (On Linux it uses Docker automatically when it's installed; otherwise it runs as a single lightweight process.)
Install the Openship CLI
The CLI is one small command-line tool. Copy the line for your system and paste it into a terminal:
$ curl -fsSL https://get.openship.io | shAlready have a package manager? npm i -g openship works too (or pnpm, yarn, bun).
Full options — desktop app, cloud, Docker Compose — are on the Installation page.
Set up Openship
openshipRun openship with no arguments — the interactive setup walks you through it: your admin login
(name, email, password), then whether the instance is private (this machine only) or public (your own domain
- HTTPS). It deploys, installs itself as an always-on background service (back on reboot, auto-restarts), and
prints your sign-in URL. The API runs on
:4000and the dashboard on:3001. On Linux with Docker it brings up the full stack (Postgres, Redis, and an OpenResty edge for domains + TLS); otherwise a single lightweight process with a built-in database. Nothing else to set up.
Scripting or CI? Skip the prompts
openship up runs the same install without the wizard (no admin is created — you register the first
account in the dashboard). openship up --foreground runs it attached to your terminal (Ctrl-C to stop);
openship stop stops the service.
Want the no-login, no-terminal version?
The desktop app runs Openship on your machine only while it's open, with no login.
Open the dashboard
openship openThis opens the dashboard in your browser at http://localhost:3001. Sign in with the admin you created
during setup. A CLI-managed instance always requires a login — only the
desktop app runs with no login. (If you used openship up instead of
the wizard, register that first account here now.)
Deploy one thing
In the dashboard, start a new project and point it at your code — a GitHub repository or a folder on your disk. Openship looks at your code, figures out what kind of app it is, and shows you a summary. For most apps you don't change anything: just press Deploy.
You land on the build screen, which streams the logs live — like watching the oven through the glass door. When it finishes, you get a link. Click it, and your app is online. 🎉
Screenshot
Prefer the terminal?
You can deploy without leaving the shell. First create a project in the dashboard, then from your code folder:
cd your-project
openship init # pick which project this folder belongs to
openship deploy # build it and put it onlineopenship init writes a small .openship/project.json file so later commands know which project to act
on. Add --watch to openship deploy to follow the build logs until it's done.
If something goes wrong
`openship open` says the API isn't responding
The platform isn't up yet. Run openship up first (give it a few seconds to become healthy), then try
openship open again. Check its state any time with openship status.
The build failed
Open the build screen and read the last few red lines — that's the real reason. First-time failures are usually a missing build command, a missing environment variable, or the app listening on the wrong port.
What next?
Installation
Desktop app, Docker Compose, cloud, and system requirements — the full set of ways to install.
First deployment
A deeper walkthrough: deploy from Git, custom domains, env vars, previews, and rollbacks.
Deploy from GitHub
Connect a repo and turn on auto-deploy so every push ships automatically.