Let anybody deploy your code in seconds - Or deploy theirs for free.

13 Apr, 2020

What’s the magic method and why it’s so useful?

TLDR: My list of free, interesting software.

You may find yourself in one of 2 situations:

You’ve just finished your project and want others to see it / use it.
You don’t want to build ( or pay ) another commonly used app.

Both of those can be solved in seconds or minutes with Deploy Buttons. There is many, many hosting providers that offer quick deploy solutions. On DigitalOcean you can find many different solutions (from Security, Analytics to eCommerce, Chats, Forums) that you can host immediately on a ‘droplet’ but it will cost you at least 5$ / month. There is Azure solution of instant deploys but it also has it’s price.

The reson I want to explain Heroku solution is because it can be both simple and free. You can expand tiers, complexity etc later and pay for it but in case you don’t like the solution or the app you’re trying - you can just delete it and forget it. Without paying a dime (even if the deploy requires paid add-ons).

What’s Deploy-to-Heroku button and how does it work?

By clicking this button you will start deploying my open-source project to your account (assuming you have one). Your database, your env variables, your app! You can choose one of hundreds applications ready to be deployed. Scroll down to see the most interesting apps ( in my opinion ) ready to be deployed. Stick around if you want to see the full potential and create your own.

What can the button do and how?

In order for the button to work you have to host the code on GitHub - that’s the only requirement. The button calls heroku and let’s it scan the repo for app.json file.

This file has every piece of information needed to perform the deploy. The list of commands is very long but out of basic settings thatere is none that is essential. Yes, you don’t even need app.json file. You just need the button in a README on your GitHub repository.

[![Deploy](https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.png)](https://heroku.com/deploy)

If you want a better introduction, check the voice log on the button that explains in details the idea. This is how easy it is.

Worth mentioning is the fact that the button works on private and public repositories. That means that you can use the button also in your organisation. GitHub has just changes it’s pricing tiers and you can run your organisation with private repositories. As long as you don’t need more features you will pay 0 $. Thank you Microsoft!

Best instant apps ready to be deployed.

Now that you know how to make your own button, let’s see what other people made for you! This is a subjective, not influenced list of apps I’ve found cool to be deployed instantly for free.

Ghost - You may have heard about version 1.X that was very popular. I’m here to tell you that there was a fork and that newest version 3.X is here. Best blogging platform. Amazing templates, styling, SEO, everything, just what you need if you are looking just for blogging.

Saleor - eCommerce platform, 100%, highly customizable, made with great technologies: Python & React & GraphQL. If you need a shop you can have it in just a moment. I made a shop this way for a friend in a moment.

Stripe API - You can see how it works to learn more about Stripe integrations. You can choose your preffered language: Go, Java, Node, PHP, Python, Ruby.

Django Forum - In case you need a forum. Here you are out of the pocket.

URL Shortener - You want privacy and you want to keep your shortened URLs? Or you want to shorten then to a specific way? That’s repo for you.

Let’s Chat - Your own, proffessional chat. You’re sick of pandemia making Teams go down? Start your own.

Did you make any mistakes when using HEROKU or you’ve seen one here? Tell me about your insights. Leave a comment with You are most welcome to see more posts of this type just go to home page