If you don't write code

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This section is for putting an app online when you didn't build it yourself — someone sent you a .zip, or an AI tool made something for you and now it needs to live somewhere.

You won't need to understand Docker, ports, or containers. There are four things to know, and the rest is clicking.

What you'll do

  1. Upload the zip and get a link you can share
  2. Replace it later when you have a newer version
  3. Understand why there's no custom web address yet

Four things worth knowing up front

These explain nearly everything that confuses people, and none of them mean anything is broken.

"Running" doesn't mean "working". The status tells you the app started, not that it does what it should. Always open the link and actually use it.

Files the app saves can disappear. If the app stores anything — uploaded pictures, a small database, saved settings — it needs storage attached, or that data is wiped every time the app updates. There's no warning; it just starts empty. If your app saves anything you care about, ask whoever built it whether it needs a volume.

Changing a setting restarts the app. It'll be briefly unavailable. That's normal, and it applies to any setting change, not just updates.

Nobody is watching it for you. If the app stops working, no alert is sent. Check it occasionally, and if it matters to other people, ask your developer to add a way for it to tell you when something's wrong.

When something goes wrong

Open the Logs tab and copy the text. You don't need to read it — send it to whoever built the app, and it will usually tell them exactly what happened.

If you're sending it on, mention what you were doing at the time, and roughly when. Logs don't keep forever, so sooner is better than later.

What this costs

You pay for the CPU, memory and disk your app is given, charged by the minute and drawn from a balance you top up. A small app costs very little, and the number of apps isn't what you're billed for.

On a new account, the first app you deploy gets a short trial run so you can see it working. After that it stops — nothing is deleted — and it stays stopped until you add credit. Once there's credit on the balance, the app runs continuously with no scheduled stops.

See Limits.