Cloud, Docker & DevOps — Fast and reliable deployment
We containerise all applications with Docker, orchestrate them with Docker Compose (or Kubernetes for enterprise projects), configure Caddy as reverse proxy with automatic SSL and automate the entire deploy cycle via GitHub Actions — from commit to production in under 5 minutes.
Containerisation with Docker and Docker Compose
Each service has its own multi-stage Dockerfile: a build stage that installs dependencies and compiles, and a minimal final stage (distroless or alpine) containing only the necessary artefacts. A typical Next.js image comes out under 150MB; a FastAPI one under 80MB. Images are rebuilt on every merge to main and tagged semantically (`v1.2.3` + `latest`).
Docker Compose defines the entire stack: frontend, API, DB, Redis, worker. Sensitive variables (DB password, API keys, Stripe secret) are in `.env` excluded from git — never hardcoded in the image. Health checks in Compose ensure dependencies are ready before start (DB ready → API start → frontend start).
- Build cache with `--mount=type=cache` — npm ci in <30s on CI
- Optimised layer ordering: stable dependencies → source code
- Secrets management with Docker secrets or HashiCorp Vault for enterprise projects
- `restart: unless-stopped` + `docker compose up --no-deps` for atomic deploy
Caddy — modern reverse proxy with automatic SSL
Caddy 2.8 manages SSL/TLS automatically via ACME (Let's Encrypt or ZeroSSL) — no expired certificates, no manual configuration. HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 (QUIC) enabled by default. Security headers (HSTS, X-Frame-Options, CSP) set globally via reusable snippets. Declarative Caddyfile configuration is diffable and versioned in git.
Rate limiting, gzip/brotli compression and structured JSON logging are activated via native Caddy directives — no nginx modules or complex Apache configuration. Access to sensitive routes (`/admin`, `.env`, `.git`) returns 444 (no response) configured as a global security snippet.
- A+ on SSL Labs from day one — TLS 1.3 only with modern cipher suites
- On-demand TLS for multi-tenant SaaS with dynamic subdomains
- Zero-downtime reload — `caddy reload` does not interrupt active connections
- Caddy logging → Loki → Grafana — traffic analysis and anomaly alerting
GitHub Actions CI/CD and monitoring
The CI pipeline runs on every PR: lint, type check, unit tests, Docker image build, vulnerability scan (Trivy). If all pass, the image is pushed to the registry and staging deployment happens automatically. Merge to main = automatic production deployment with post-deploy healthcheck. Automatic rollback if the healthcheck fails within 60 seconds.
Monitoring with Grafana + Prometheus for application metrics (latency, error rate, queue size) and Loki for log aggregation. Alerts configured on Slack/email: error rate >1%, P95 latency >500ms, disk >85%. External uptime monitoring with Better Uptime — public SLA dashboard available on request.
- Trivy vulnerability scan on images — blocked on Critical CVE
- Dependabot + auto-merge for patch updates (green CI required)
- Automatic DB backup to S3-compatible storage (nightly, 30-day retention)
Avantaje și limitări
Avantaje
- Zero-downtime deploy with automatic rollback on failed healthcheck.
- Automatic SSL/TLS via Caddy — no manually expired certificates.
- Reproducible environment: the same Docker image on dev, staging, production.
- Monitoring and alerts (Grafana, Loki) — issues seen before users.
Limitări
- Docker Compose does not scale like Kubernetes for enterprise multi-node.
- Initial CI/CD setup requires time and DevOps expertise.
- Images and logs consume disk space — need periodic cleanup.
- Full monitoring (Prometheus + Grafana) adds services to maintain.
Verdict scurt
Docker + Caddy + GitHub Actions is the ideal combo for reliable deploy on a VPS or a few nodes. For dozens of nodes with aggressive auto-scaling, move to Kubernetes.
Tabel de specificații
| Capability | Limit / threshold | Typical use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orchestration | Docker Compose, full stack | Single-node; multi-node needs Swarm/K8s | VPS, small-to-medium projects |
| Reverse proxy | Caddy 2.8, HTTP/3, auto SSL | Very complex rules need extended config | Multi-domain, multi-tenant |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions, deploy < 5 min | CI minutes billed beyond free tier | Automatic commit-to-prod |
| Typical cost | VPS from ~€5/month | Monitoring + backup add cost | From a single site to multi-brand |
Docker Compose vs Kubernetes
| Criterion | Docker Compose | Kubernetes |
|---|---|---|
| Setup complexity | Low | High |
| Multi-node / auto-scaling | Limited (one node) | Excellent |
| Best for | VPS, small-to-medium projects | Large fleets, enterprise |
Întrebări frecvente
Why Caddy and not Nginx?
Caddy manages SSL/TLS automatically via ACME, enables HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 by default and has a short declarative config. Nginx requires certbot and more manual configuration for the same result.
Do I need Kubernetes?
Not for most sites. Docker Compose on a VPS handles a site or a few services reliably. Kubernetes becomes useful only at dozens of nodes with aggressive auto-scaling.
How does zero-downtime deploy work?
GitHub Actions builds a new image, starts it alongside the old one, runs a healthcheck, then switches traffic. If the healthcheck fails within 60 seconds, it automatically rolls back to the previous version.
What monitoring do you recommend?
Grafana + Prometheus for metrics (latency, error rate) and Loki for aggregated logs, with Slack/email alerts. For external uptime we add an independent service such as Better Uptime.