Coolify

Overview

Manage Coolify deployments, applications, databases, and services from the terminal. Supports the Coolify CLI for day-to-day operations and the REST API for CI/CD integration. Coolify is an open-source self-hostable PaaS that deploys resources as Docker containers on your own servers.

Instructions

When a user asks for help with Coolify, determine which task they need:

Task A: Set up CLI context

Connect the CLI to a Coolify instance:

# Add a context (name, URL, API token)
coolify context add production https://coolify.example.com <api-token>

# List configured contexts
coolify context list

# Switch active context
coolify context use production

# Verify connection
coolify context verify

API tokens are created in the Coolify dashboard under Keys & Tokens > API tokens. Permission levels:

• read-only

  — view resources, no sensitive data

• read:sensitive

  — view resources including secrets

• *

  — full access (needed for deploys and mutations)

Task B: Deploy applications

# Deploy by UUID
coolify deploy uuid <app-uuid>

# Deploy by name
coolify deploy name my-api

# Deploy multiple resources at once
coolify deploy batch app1-uuid,app2-uuid,db-uuid

# List recent deployments
coolify app deployments list <app-uuid>

# View deployment logs
coolify app deployments logs <deployment-uuid>

# Cancel a running deployment
coolify deploy cancel <deployment-uuid>

Via API (for CI/CD pipelines):

curl -X POST "https://coolify.example.com/api/v1/deploy" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"uuid": "app-uuid-here"}'

Task C: Manage environment variables

# List env vars for an application
coolify app env list <app-uuid>

# Create a single env var
coolify app env create <app-uuid> --key DATABASE_URL --value "postgres://user:pass@db:5432/myapp"

# Sync from a .env file (creates missing, updates existing, leaves others untouched)
coolify app env sync <app-uuid> --file .env.production

# Bulk update via API
curl -X PATCH "https://coolify.example.com/api/v1/applications/<uuid>/envs/bulk" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COOLIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{"key": "NODE_ENV", "value": "production"}, {"key": "PORT", "value": "3000"}]'

Task D: Manage databases

# List all databases
coolify database list

# Create a PostgreSQL database
coolify database create postgresql --name my-postgres --server <server-uuid>

# Start/stop/restart a database
coolify database start <db-uuid>
coolify database stop <db-uuid>
coolify database restart <db-uuid>

# Create a backup configuration
coolify database backup create <db-uuid> --frequency "0 2 * * *" --s3 <s3-uuid>

# Trigger a backup immediately
coolify database backup trigger <backup-uuid>

Supported database types: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, ClickHouse, Dragonfly, KeyDB.

Task E: Manage applications and services

# List all applications
coolify app list

# Get application details
coolify app get <app-uuid>

# Start/stop/restart an application
coolify app start <app-uuid>
coolify app stop <app-uuid>
coolify app restart <app-uuid>

# View application logs
coolify app logs <app-uuid>

# List one-click services
coolify service list

# Start/stop a service
coolify service start <service-uuid>
coolify service stop <service-uuid>

Task F: Server and resource management

# List all servers
coolify server list

# Validate a server (checks SSH, Docker, prerequisites)
coolify server validate <server-uuid>

# List all resources across servers
coolify resources list

# Get server details (JSON output for scripting)
coolify server get <server-uuid> --format json

Examples

Example 1: Deploy a Next.js app and sync env vars

User request: "Deploy my Next.js app to Coolify and sync the production env vars"

Steps taken:

# First, sync env vars from local .env.production
$ coolify app env sync abc123-def456 --file .env.production
Synced 12 environment variables (3 created, 9 updated)

# Trigger deployment
$ coolify deploy uuid abc123-def456
Deployment queued: dep-789xyz

# Monitor deployment
$ coolify app deployments logs dep-789xyz
[2024-01-15 10:23:01] Building with Nixpacks...
[2024-01-15 10:23:45] Build completed successfully
[2024-01-15 10:23:50] Deploying container...
[2024-01-15 10:24:02] Health check passed
[2024-01-15 10:24:03] Deployment successful

Example 2: Set up a PostgreSQL database with automated backups

User request: "Create a PostgreSQL database on Coolify with nightly backups"

Steps taken:

# Create the database
$ coolify database create postgresql --name analytics-db --server srv-abc123
Created database: db-xyz789 (PostgreSQL 16)

# Create backup schedule (daily at 2 AM)
$ coolify database backup create db-xyz789 --frequency "0 2 * * *" --s3 s3-backup-config
Backup schedule created: backup-111222

# Verify it's running
$ coolify database list
UUID          NAME           TYPE         STATUS
db-xyz789     analytics-db   postgresql   running

Example 3: CI/CD deployment from GitHub Actions

User request: "Set up automatic deployment from GitHub Actions"

GitHub Actions workflow:

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy to Coolify
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Trigger Coolify deployment
        run: |
          curl -X POST "${{ secrets.COOLIFY_URL }}/api/v1/deploy" \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.COOLIFY_TOKEN }}" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            -d '{"uuid": "${{ secrets.COOLIFY_APP_UUID }}"}'

Guidelines

• Store your Coolify API token securely. Never commit it to version control. Use

  COOLIFY_TOKEN

  as an environment variable in CI/CD.
• Use

  coolify context

  to manage multiple Coolify instances (production, staging). Avoid hardcoding URLs.
• The

  coolify app env sync

  command is non-destructive — it won't remove env vars not in your file. Use this for safe syncing.
• Deployments are queued and processed sequentially per server. Check the queue if deploys seem delayed.
• For troubleshooting failed deployments, always check

  coolify app deployments logs <deployment-uuid>

  first.
• Database backups require an S3-compatible storage target configured in Coolify (AWS S3, MinIO, Backblaze B2, etc.).
• Use

  --format json

  with any CLI command to get machine-readable output for scripting.
• For detailed API endpoint reference, see references/api-reference.md.