Get your LiteBin running and deploy your first app in under 5 minutes.
Pick your platform
Install Master
Orchestrator + Dashboard + Caddy
Create Admin Account
Set up dashboard access
Add Worker Nodes (Optional)
Scale to multiple servers
SSH into your Linux VPS (with Docker installed) and run:
curl -fsSL https://l8b.in | bash
Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
iex (irm https://l8b.in/windows.ps1)
The installer will prompt for:
example.com)l8bin)master_proxy)After the installer finishes, open your dashboard and create an admin account. Even if you plan to use only the CLI, don't skip this — the dashboard is publicly accessible until the first admin is created, and l8b login uses these credentials.
https://l8bin.example.com
DNS: Make sure your domain's A record points to your server IP before running the installer.
To scale to multiple servers, you can add worker nodes running the LiteBin Agent.
1. Generate mTLS certificates on the master server:
curl -fsSL https://l8b.in | bash -s certs
2. On each Linux worker server, run the installer in agent mode:
curl -fsSL https://l8b.in | bash -s agent
The installer will prompt for:
worker-1)certs command aboveThe LiteBin Agent (worker daemon) currently requires a Linux environment. You can still use your Windows Master to manage Linux workers, but Windows-native worker support is Coming Soon.
If you have a Linux VPS ready, you can switch the OS toggle at the top of this guide to see the agent setup instructions.
Tip: You can also add nodes from the dashboard — Nodes → Add Node.
How do you want to deploy your apps?
Build on your machine, stream the image to your server. No registry needed.
Install CLI locally:
Option A: Prebuilt binary (easiest)
curl -fsSL https://l8b.in | bash -s cli
Option B: Build from source (requires Cargo)
git clone https://github.com/mtsandeep/l8bin.git
cd l8bin
./setup/build.sh
bash install.sh cliOption A: Prebuilt binary (easiest)
iex "& { $(irm https://l8b.in/windows.ps1) } -Cli"
Option B: Build from source (requires Cargo)
git clone https://github.com/mtsandeep/l8bin.git
cd l8bin
.\setup\build.ps1
powershell -File .\install-windows.ps1 cliThe installer automatically configures your PATH. Open a new terminal and run l8b --version to verify.
Add ~/.local/bin to your shell profile manually:
# bash
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
# zsh (macOS default)
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc && source ~/.zshrcRefresh your current PowerShell session (no restart):
$env:Path = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","Machine") + ";" + [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path","User")
Alternatively, manually add to your User PATH:
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('Path', [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable('Path', 'User') + ';' + "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin", 'User')
Login to your master:
l8b login --server https://l8bin.example.com
Note: If running LiteBin locally, use http://localhost:5080 as the server. Cloud-hosted instances work normally over HTTPS.
Interactive deploy (auto-detects Dockerfile or uses Railpack):
l8b ship
Or deploy non-interactively:
l8b deploy --project myapp
Port is auto-detected from EXPOSE. Use --port to override.
The easiest way to manage your apps — start, stop, configure, and view logs with a few clicks.
Go to your LiteBin dashboard
https://l8bin.example.com
Click "Deploy"
Enter an image from any public registry
Configure and deploy
Set project name, port, env vars
Example images:
nginx:alpine
node:20
ghcr.io/org/app:latest
Dashboard Management:
App will be live at https://<app-name>.your-domain.com
Auto-deploy on every push to main, or trigger a deploy manually from the GitHub Actions UI.
Create .github/workflows/deploy.yml:
name: Deploy
on:
push:
branches: [main]
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- uses: mtsandeep/l8bin-action@v1
with:
server: ${{ secrets.L8B_SERVER }}
token: ${{ secrets.L8B_TOKEN }}
project_id: myappRequired GitHub Secrets:
Every push to main will now auto-deploy to your LiteBin cluster.
Native GitHub integration coming soon.
Direct GitHub repository linking
Auto-deploy without writing workflows
Coming SoonDeploy multi-service apps with docker-compose.yml. LiteBin auto-detects it when you run l8b ship or upload it from the dashboard.
services:
api:
image: node:24-alpine
ports:
- "3000" # LiteBin routes HTTP to this port
environment:
- DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL:-postgres://postgres:password@db:5432/myapp}
working_dir: /app
volumes:
- app-data:/app/data # Named volume (scoped to litebin_<project>_app-data)
- ./logs:/app/logs # Bind mount (under projects/<project>/logs/)
depends_on:
db:
condition: service_healthy
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "wget", "-qO-", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
retries: 3
restart: unless-stopped
deploy:
resources:
limits:
memory: 256M
cpus: "0.5"
labels:
litebin.public: "true" # Mark as the public service (optional)
db:
image: postgres:16-alpine
ports:
- "5432" # Only accessible within the Docker network
environment:
- POSTGRES_DB=myapp
- POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD:-password}
volumes:
- pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
app-data:
pgdata:image, build (context + dockerfile)command, entrypointworking_dir, userenvironment (with ${VAR} interpolation)ports (TCP + UDP, with protocol)depends_on (long form with conditions)volumes (named volumes + bind mounts)healthcheckrestart (no, always, unless-stopped)stdin_open, ttydeploy.resources.limits (memory + cpus)shm_size, tmpfs, read_onlycap_add, cap_drop, extra_hostslabels (litebin.public to pick public service)projects/<project>/.env for runtime secrets. LiteBin auto-detects changes and recreates the container on next wake. See env-secrets.md.litebin_<project>_ prefix. Bind mounts with relative paths are stored under projects/<project>/.LiteBin picks one service as the public HTTP endpoint (routed through Caddy with TLS). Detection order:
litebin.public: "true" label80 or 443If multiple services have ports and none match the above, l8b ship asks you to pick the public service. For CI (l8b deploy), the first service is auto-selected.
If a Dockerfile exists in your project root, l8b ship uses it to build your image. Otherwise, Railpack auto-detects your framework.
FROM node:24-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production
FROM node:24-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]l8b ship checks for Dockerfile in your project root. If found, it builds with Docker. Otherwise, it uses Railpack.FROM ... AS builder pattern as shown above.l8b ship --dockerfile Dockerfile.dev to specify a different filename.l8b ship --secret .env to pass secrets at build time (baked into the image).--platform flag needed.l8b ship auto-detects the port from EXPOSE in your Dockerfile. If multiple ports are exposed, the first one is used. If none, you'll be prompted (default: 3000).