Quick Start

Piora is a self-hosted PaaS platform that gives you a Heroku/Railway-like deployment experience on your own VPS. Simply provide a VPS, and Piora will automatically install all necessary components via SSH, including Docker, Traefik reverse proxy, and multiple build tools.

This guide will walk you through the entire process — from signing up to deploying your first application.

Estimated Time

The entire setup process takes approximately 10-15 minutes.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

• A VPS server — Running Ubuntu 18.04+ or Debian 10+
• Network access — Ports 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), and 443 (HTTPS) must be open
• Payment method — Free plan requires no payment; upgrades accept credit or debit cards (via Stripe)

VPS Provider Recommendations

Piora works with any major VPS provider such as DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, Hetzner, etc. We recommend at least 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM, with 2 vCPU / 2 GB RAM or higher being ideal.

Setup Steps

1. Create an Account

   Go to app.piora.dev/register to create your Piora account. Sign up with your email and password.

   After registration, you’ll be directed to the dashboard.

2. Choose a Subscription Plan

   Your first server on Piora is completely free. Upgrade when you need more:

   Item	Monthly	Annual (15% off)
   First server	Free	Free
   Second server	$4.50 / mo	$3.83 / mo
   3rd server onwards	$3.50 / mo	$2.98 / mo

   The free plan requires no payment to get started. When you need additional servers, you’ll be redirected to the Stripe secure checkout page.

   Get Started Free

   First server is free — no credit card required. Annual billing saves an additional 15%.

3. Generate SSH Key

   After subscribing, Piora automatically generates a dedicated SSH key pair for your account named piora-cloud-ssh-key.

   You need to add the public key to your VPS’s ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file so Piora can connect via SSH.

   Manual Setup

   # Copy the public key shown in the Piora dashboard
   # On your VPS, run:
   mkdir -p ~/.ssh
   echo "your-piora-public-key" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
   chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

   VPS Provider Setup

   Many VPS providers (such as DigitalOcean, Hetzner) allow you to import SSH public keys when creating a server. You can paste the Piora public key into the provider’s SSH key settings when creating a new VPS.

4. Connect Your VPS

   In the Piora dashboard, click “Add Server” and fill in the following:

   • Server name — A custom name for easy identification (e.g., production-server)
   • IP address — Your VPS’s public IP
   • SSH port — Default is 22
   • SSH user — Usually root

   Click “Connect” and Piora will verify the SSH connection.

   Using the Root Account

   We recommend using the root account for initial setup, as the auto-installation process requires full system privileges to install Docker and other components.

5. Automatic Environment Setup

   Once the connection is verified, Piora automatically installs the following components on your VPS:

   Component	Description
   Docker 28.5.0	Container engine — all apps run as containers
   Docker Swarm	Docker’s native cluster orchestration tool
   Traefik	Automatic reverse proxy and SSL certificate management
   Nixpacks	Auto-detects language and builds container images
   Buildpacks	Cloud Native Buildpacks, an alternative build solution
   Railpack	Build tool optimized for Rails and similar frameworks
   RClone	Cloud storage sync tool, used for backup features

   The installation takes approximately 3-5 minutes. You can monitor progress and logs in real time from the dashboard.

6. Verify Installation

   After installation, Piora automatically verifies all components are properly installed and running. You’ll see status indicators in the dashboard for each component:

   • Docker service is running
   • Docker Swarm is initialized
   • Traefik reverse proxy is active
   • Build tools are ready

   Once all items show green checkmarks, your server is ready.

7. Deploy Your First Application

   With the server configured, you can deploy applications in three ways:

   Git Deploy

   Connect your GitHub / GitLab repository and trigger automatic deployments on every push.

   # After connecting your Git repo in the dashboard
   # Every git push triggers automatic deployment
   git push origin main

   Docker Deploy

   Deploy directly using existing Docker images.

   # Specify the image in the dashboard
   image: nginx:alpine
   ports:
     - "80:80"

   Compose Deploy

   Upload a docker-compose.yml to deploy multi-container applications.

   version: "3.8"
   services:
     web:
       image: node:20-alpine
       ports:
         - "3000:3000"
     db:
       image: postgres:16
       environment:
         POSTGRES_PASSWORD: your-password

Next Steps

Congratulations on completing the initial Piora setup! Here’s what you can explore next:

• Server Setup — Advanced server configuration and management
• Deployment — Deep dive into deployment methods
• Domains & SSL — Set up custom domains and HTTPS
• Databases — Create and manage database services
• Monitoring — Monitor server and application health
• Backups — Configure automatic backup strategies

FAQ

What if the installation fails?

Ensure your VPS meets the minimum requirements (Ubuntu 18.04+ or Debian 10+) and that the SSH connection is working. Check the installation logs in the dashboard for specific error messages. If the issue persists, contact support through the dashboard.

Can I install on a VPS with existing services?

We recommend using a fresh VPS for installation. If your VPS already has other services, Piora’s auto-installation may conflict with existing Docker or Traefik configurations.

Which programming languages are supported?

Through Nixpacks and Buildpacks, Piora supports most major languages and frameworks, including but not limited to: Node.js, Python, Ruby, Go, Rust, PHP, Java, and .NET.