Platform

Why teams choose Hostess.

Hostess makes it simple to run and manage multiple services together without needing to deal with complex cloud setup or web dashboards.

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The problem

Modern deployment is broken.

Big Cloud

AWS · GCP · Azure

  • 15+ services just to deploy a simple app
  • IAM roles, VPCs, security groups, permission boundaries
  • Forgotten resources rack up bills while you sleep
  • One misconfigured permission breaks everything at 2 AM

Managed PaaS

Vercel · Railway · Render

  • Platform-specific config models — portability tax on exit
  • State split between code, dashboard, and env overrides
  • Multi-service apps require service-by-service setup
  • Switching providers means rewriting everything

DIY Kubernetes

k8s · Helm · Terraform

  • Clusters, ingress, operators, secrets, observability
  • 450+ lines of YAML to deploy a simple web app
  • Deployment knowledge siloed to infra experts
  • High ops burden with fragile team handoffs

One file. One command.

4–8 hours down to 3 minutes.

Before4–8 hours
$ terraform init && terraform apply
→ 200+ lines of HCL, 15 minutes
$ kubectl apply -f postgres-operator.yaml
$ kubectl apply -f redis-statefulset.yaml
$ docker build -t myapp/api . && docker push
$ kubectl apply -f api-deployment.yaml
$ kubectl apply -f api-service.yaml
$ kubectl apply -f api-ingress.yaml
# Repeat for every service...
# Debug why they can't talk...
After3 minutes
$ hostess deploy
db postgres 16 ● healthy
cache redis 7 ● healthy
api 1/1 pods ● healthy
web 1/1 pods ● healthy
api → https://myapp-api-3kx7p.hostess.run
web → https://myapp-web-9nm2q.hostess.run

See how we compare

The gap between PaaS and cloud.

FeatureHostessVercelRenderRailwayAWS ECS
Full stack in one config file
Postgres & Redis built-in
Automatic service wiring
One-command deploy
Per-service targeted deploys
Lifecycle hooks (migrate, seed)
Framework-specific dashboards
GitOps single source of truth
CLI-native for AI agents
No cloud expertise needed

✓ Full · — Partial · ✗ None

OSS Stacks

Deploy any OSS stack in one command.

Publish a hostess.yml alongside your project and it becomes a one-command self-hosted deployment. Anyone can run your app on their own infrastructure — no cloud expertise required.

hostess.yml
version: "1.0"
name: n8n
services:
db:
type: postgres
resources:
preset: small
storage: 10Gi
backups: daily
n8n:
type: custom
image: docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n:latest
ports:
- 5678
depends_on:
- db
env:
DB_TYPE: postgresdb
DB_POSTGRESDB_HOST: ${db.host}
DB_POSTGRESDB_PORT: ${db.port}
DB_POSTGRESDB_DATABASE: ${db.database}
DB_POSTGRESDB_USER: ${db.user}
DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD: ${db.password}
N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY: ${secret:N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
WEBHOOK_URL: ${n8n.external_url}
resources: medium
health:
http: /healthz
$ hostess deploy
n8n → https://n8n-n8n-3kx7p.hostess.run
AI-agent native

The platform AI agents would deploy to themselves.

Every AI-powered app is a multi-service stack. Hostess's entire workflow is CLI and config-file driven — after a one-time setup, an autonomous agent never needs to touch a GUI again.

  • No browser automation or computer-use overhead
  • Pure stdin/stdout — native to any LLM agent loop
  • Write code → deploy → read logs → fix → redeploy
  • The full loop stays in the terminal where agents are fastest
agent loop
# authenticate once via env var
export HOSTESS_TOKEN=pat_xxxxxxxx
# the entire loop — no GUI needed
$ hostess deploy
✓ stack deployed in 42s
$ hostess services logs api
ERROR: missing env var OPENAI_KEY
$ hostess secrets add OPENAI_KEY
✓ secret stored
$ hostess deploy -s api
✓ api redeployed in 18s

Built for every layer of your stack.

Operator-backed databases

Postgres via CloudNativePG. Redis with persistence. Automatic backups, connection pooling, HA.

Magic variables

Internal URLs, external URLs, connection strings. Resolved automatically. Never copy-paste a database URL again.

Lifecycle hooks

Run migrations before traffic switches. Seed databases on first deploy. Warm caches after deploy.

Deployment URLs

Every deploy gets a unique SHA-based URL. Stable routes update when the new deploy is healthy.

Per-service deploys

Target specific services with hostess deploy -s api. Fast iteration on a live stack.

AI-agent native

Full CLI-driven workflow. The deploy–debug–redeploy loop stays in the terminal where agents are fastest.

Ready to ship your stack?