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Connect a GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket repository and deploy on every push. Light Cloud detects the framework and build settings, and every environment can override them.

Deployments

Connect a GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket repository and every push builds and deploys.

Connect a repository#

Sign in with GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket and pick a repository. On GitHub, Light Cloud installs a GitHub App with access to the repositories you choose; on GitLab and Bitbucket, it connects through your user and creates a webhook on each project or repository you deploy. Either way it can read the code and build on push: each commit to a connected branch triggers a build of that branch, and the branch list is offered at create time.

How each provider connects, what access it needs, and how starter templates land in your own repository: Git providers.

Detection#

Light Cloud reads the repository to decide how to build it: the framework, the package manager, the build command, and the output directory. See Frameworks for how detection works and the full list.

Build settings#

Settings live on the application, and every environment can override them - production and a preview can build differently:

  • Framework, build command, output directory - what gets built and where the output lands. See Build settings.
  • Runtime and container port - for backends, the language runtime and the port your server listens on.
  • Size and scaling - memory, CPU, and minimum and maximum instances. The minimum defaults to zero, so idle apps scale to zero and stop billing.
  • Region - Belgium, Iowa, South Carolina, or Oregon, chosen when you create the app.
  • Environment variables - see Environment variables.

Build and release#

  • A static build is uploaded to object storage and served from a global CDN.
  • A container build becomes an image on Cloud Run that scales with traffic.

What runs inside the build - steps, generated Dockerfiles, caching, failures - is on its own page: Builds.

Every deployed environment gets a URL:

{branch}-{app}-{org}.light-cloud.io

Attach your own hostname with a custom domain.

The production environment#

The main (or master) branch becomes the environment named Production. It is marked, protected from automatic cleanup, and sorted first in the console. Everything else is a preview environment you can create and remove freely.

Deploy history#

The last 20 deploys of each environment are kept, each with its commit SHA, message, author, duration, status, and build steps. Shipping again and shipping backwards - Redeploy, reverts, manual releases - is covered on Rollbacks.

Deploy without a repo#

You can deploy a local folder without a repository - from the Create page, the VS Code extension, or the MCP server. See Deploy from an upload.

Go deeper#