Kamal

Overview

Kamal (formerly MRSK) deploys containerized web apps to any server — VPS, bare metal, cloud VM — with zero downtime and no Kubernetes complexity. Created by 37signals (Basecamp/HEY), it uses Docker + Traefik to manage rolling deployments, SSL, and load balancing. Configure once in YAML, deploy with one command.

When to Use

• Deploying to VPS/bare metal servers (Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Linode)
• Want zero-downtime deployments without Kubernetes
• Migrating off Heroku/Railway to self-hosted
• Need SSL, rolling deploys, and health checks with minimal config
• Multi-server deployment (web + worker + cron on different machines)

Instructions

Setup

gem install kamal
# Or without Ruby:
docker run -it ghcr.io/basecamp/kamal:latest

# Initialize in your project
kamal init

Configuration

# config/deploy.yml — Main deployment config
service: my-app
image: myuser/my-app

servers:
  web:
    hosts:
      - 167.235.1.100
      - 167.235.1.101
    labels:
      traefik.http.routers.my-app.rule: Host(`myapp.com`)
      traefik.http.routers.my-app-secure.entrypoints: websecure
      traefik.http.routers.my-app-secure.rule: Host(`myapp.com`)
      traefik.http.routers.my-app-secure.tls.certresolver: letsencrypt
  worker:
    hosts:
      - 167.235.1.102
    cmd: node worker.js

# Docker image registry
registry:
  server: ghcr.io
  username: myuser
  password:
    - KAMAL_REGISTRY_PASSWORD

# Environment variables
env:
  clear:
    NODE_ENV: production
    PORT: 3000
  secret:
    - DATABASE_URL
    - REDIS_URL
    - SECRET_KEY

# Traefik for load balancing + SSL
traefik:
  options:
    publish:
      - "443:443"
    volume:
      - "/letsencrypt:/letsencrypt"
  args:
    entryPoints.web.address: ":80"
    entryPoints.websecure.address: ":443"
    certificatesResolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email: admin@myapp.com
    certificatesResolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage: /letsencrypt/acme.json
    certificatesResolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpChallenge.entryPoint: web

# Accessories (databases, Redis, etc.)
accessories:
  db:
    image: postgres:16
    host: 167.235.1.100
    port: 5432
    env:
      secret:
        - POSTGRES_PASSWORD
    directories:
      - data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  redis:
    image: redis:7
    host: 167.235.1.100
    port: 6379

# Health check
healthcheck:
  path: /health
  port: 3000
  max_attempts: 10
  interval: 3

Deploy

# First deployment (sets up Docker, Traefik, accessories)
kamal setup

# Subsequent deployments (zero-downtime rolling)
kamal deploy

# Deploy with specific version/tag
kamal deploy --version=abc123

# Rollback to previous version
kamal rollback

# Check status
kamal details

# View logs
kamal app logs
kamal app logs -f  # Follow

# Run one-off commands
kamal app exec "node scripts/migrate.js"
kamal app exec -i "node"  # Interactive shell

Secrets Management

# .kamal/secrets — Environment file (NOT committed to git)
KAMAL_REGISTRY_PASSWORD=ghp_xxx
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/myapp
REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
SECRET_KEY=super-secret-key

# Secrets from 1Password, AWS SSM, etc.
kamal secrets extract --adapter=1password --account=myteam --from=MyApp/Production

Examples

Example 1: Deploy a Next.js app to Hetzner

User prompt: "Deploy my Next.js app to a Hetzner VPS with SSL and zero downtime."

The agent will create a Dockerfile, configure Kamal with Traefik for SSL via Let's Encrypt, set up health checks, and deploy with kamal setup.

Example 2: Multi-server deployment with worker

User prompt: "I have a web app and a background job worker. Deploy web to 2 servers and worker to 1."

The agent will configure Kamal with separate server roles (web × 2, worker × 1), shared environment, and rolling deployment for the web servers.

Guidelines

• kamal setup for first deploy — installs Docker, starts Traefik, deploys accessories
• kamal deploy for updates — zero-downtime rolling deployment
• Health check is critical — Kamal waits for /health to return 200 before switching traffic
• Accessories for databases — Postgres, Redis managed alongside your app
• Secrets in .kamal/secrets — never in deploy.yml or git
• Traefik handles SSL — automatic Let's Encrypt certificates
• Rollback is instant — kamal rollback switches to previous container
• Works with any Docker image — not just Ruby/Rails
• Multi-server is built-in — add hosts, Kamal deploys to all
• No Kubernetes needed — for most apps, Kamal + VPS is simpler and cheaper