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Introduction to a new Self hosted PAAS

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Akhil Naidu
16 Apr, 2025
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DFlow: The Developer-First Self-Hosted PaaS

As developers look for more control over their infrastructure, the demand for a self-hosted PaaS solution that's both powerful and easy to use has never been higher. Most modern PaaS platforms focus on abstracting infrastructure—but at the cost of flexibility, pricing, and ownership.

Enter DFlow — a developer-first, self-hosted Platform-as-a-Service that gives you full control over your deployments, infrastructure, and scaling — without the need for Kubernetes, Swarm, or bloated orchestration tools.

What is DFlow?

At its core, DFlow is a UI-powered platform that connects directly to your servers via SSH and configures them with a production-ready stack powered by Dokku, node-ssh, PayloadCMS and Railpack. It transforms your VPS into a smart, scalable PaaS with just a few clicks.

But DFlow goes far beyond that.

It’s not just a UI wrapper for Dokku. DFlow brings its own opinionated architecture, offering:

  • A modern dashboard for managing apps, deployments, logs, and resources
  • Free domain provisioning via nip.io and automatic Let's Encrypt SSL
  • Out-of-the-box PostgreSQL, Redis, and other DB plugins
  • One-click app scaling (with plans for full autoscaling support)
  • Real-time monitoring powered by Netdata
  • A template creation system for turning any app into a reusable deployment recipe
  • Server provisioning directly from cloud providers like AWS

How is DFlow Different?

Unlike traditional PaaS tools, DFlow is intentionally simple, transparent, and modular.

Here’s what makes it stand out:

1. Smart Server Setup (via SSH)

DFlow connects to any fresh VPS using SSH, installs Dokku and Netdata, and configures the entire deployment stack. It handles everything from DNS to SSL, proxy setup, databases, and more—turning any server into a self-hosted Heroku alternative.

2. Not Herokuish—It’s Railpack First

While Dokku supports Heroku buildpacks, DFlow favors a Railpack-based approach, giving developers more control and flexibility. This avoids the limitations of the Herokuish ecosystem while still providing Docker-powered app builds under the hood.

3. No Heavy Orchestration

DFlow avoids Kubernetes and Docker Swarm on purpose. Instead of complex orchestration, it focuses on a horizontal scaling strategy where new cloud servers (e.g., AWS EC2) are spun up based on load or custom rules you define. These new instances are then auto-configured with Dokku and immediately available in the DFlow dashboard.

4. Admin Panel Decoupled from Your Servers

DFlow’s admin panel is not installed on your production servers. This is by design. Build processes can be memory and CPU intensive—and we believe your UI shouldn't slow down just because a deployment is running. You can host the DFlow admin on platforms like Railway with a one-click deploy button.

5. Template Creation UI

Soon, DFlow will ship with a template builder, allowing you to package your own apps (or open source projects) into reusable templates. This means you can standardize how projects are deployed across teams, clients, or products—all visually and without writing complex scripts.

DFlow Architecture Overview

Here’s how it all comes together:

🔗 1. SSH-based Agentless Control

DFlow does not install any agents. It connects directly to your server over SSH, runs configuration scripts, and sets up Dokku + Netdata seamlessly.

🌍 2. Proxy + DNS Automation

Every app gets a free subdomain via nip.io, and automatic Let's Encrypt SSL is handled out of the box.

⚙️ 3. Build & Deployment Pipeline

Underneath, apps are deployed using Docker containers—powered by either custom Dockerfiles or Railpack logic. All builds happen server-side, keeping the developer experience lean.

🧠 4. Autoscaling (Coming Soon)

Instead of container-based autoscaling, DFlow's approach is cloud-native. Based on your traffic or custom rules, DFlow will:

  • Spin up a new VPS on your AWS account
  • Install Dokku
  • Register it in your admin panel
  • Allow apps to be distributed across servers

📊 5. Monitoring & Logs

With Netdata pre-installed, you get real-time server health metrics, CPU/RAM usage, app logs, and more—all accessible from the dashboard.

What's Next?

We’re just getting started. Here's what’s coming soon:

  • 🧩 ContentQL Integration: Launch servers on DFlow Cloud with the cheapest VPS plans available.
  • 🔄 Autoscaling Rules: Define your own triggers for horizontal scaling.
  • 📦 One-click App Templates: Share and reuse app blueprints.
  • 🚀 Multi-cloud support: GCP and DigitalOcean next.

Try DFlow Today

You can deploy the DFlow admin panel on Railway with one click and connect your servers in minutes.


Final Thoughts

DFlow is a new kind of PaaS—one that’s simple enough for solo devs, powerful enough for teams, and flexible enough to run anywhere. Whether you're deploying a hobby project, SaaS app, or internal tools, DFlow gives you full control—without the chaos of managing complex infrastructure.

If you’re tired of cloud lock-in and ready to run your own platform with ease—DFlow is built for you.

This is still an ongoang project and if anyone is interested to join us, feel free to connect us via our discord.