Chapter 01

Your app runs in a container. A domain points at it.

That single sentence is the whole platform. Everything in this guide is a stop along that path — the folder your code lives in, the image that runs it, the domain that reaches it, and the gate that can stand in front.

Your domain app.example.com Points at the box. You own the DNS record.

The edge Caddy · HTTPS Terminates TLS and gets the certificate for you.

Your container no-app-example-com:80 One container per site. Never a public port.

Your files /var/www/virtual/app.example.com A real folder on the host. Your code goes here.

What you are responsible for

The platform gives you a running container, a routed domain, and a certificate. It does not touch your application. The split is sharper than on most hosts, so it is worth stating plainly.

The platform does You do

Runs a container for your site and restarts it if it dies Put your application files in the site folder — a Laravel app goes in its application/ subdirectory

Routes your domain to it and issues the HTTPS certificate Point the DNS record at the box before publishing

Serves the folder with nginx, and PHP-FPM on the Laravel image Ship a working app — the health check does not test it

Runs the background programs you declare Write those program definitions and keep them valid

Provides shared MySQL and Redis on the internal network Get your own database and credentials, and configure your app

The platform does	You do
Runs a container for your site and restarts it if it dies	Put your application files in the site folder — a Laravel app goes in its `application/` subdirectory
Routes your domain to it and issues the HTTPS certificate	Point the DNS record at the box before publishing
Serves the folder with nginx, and PHP-FPM on the Laravel image	Ship a working app — the health check does not test it
Runs the background programs you declare	Write those program definitions and keep them valid
Provides shared MySQL and Redis on the internal network	Get your own database and credentials, and configure your app

Read this before you deploy anything

There is no build pipeline, no git integration, and no deploy command. You copy files into the site folder yourself. And because PHP opcache is set to never re-check timestamps, your changed code does not go live until the container is restarted. Chapter 04 covers what this means in practice.

The vocabulary

Five words carry most of the meaning. They mean the same thing in this guide and in the panel.

Site: One website: a domain, an image, and a folder. One container runs it.
Folder: A directory under /var/www/virtual/ holding your code. Mounted into the container at the identical path.
Image: The runtime your site uses — a static web server, or PHP 8.3. Chosen from a catalog when the site is created.
Published: Whether a domain currently routes to your site. A site can run without being published.
Locked: Whether the whole site, or certain folders, answer only to unlocked IP addresses. Everyone else gets a 403.

Where to go next

The chapters build on each other in order. If you are setting up a site for the first time, read them straight through — it is about fifteen minutes. If you are here with a specific problem, jump.

02 What a site is The folder, the container, the docroot, and what the status dot actually measures. 03 Choosing an image Static site or PHP 8.3 — what each one gives you, and the one setting you can change. 04 Getting your code on How files reach the folder today, and the restart rule you cannot skip. 05 Background work Queue workers and the scheduler: three filenames, and the rules they must follow. 06 Databases and Redis What is on the internal network, how to reach it, and what you must arrange yourself. 07 Domains and HTTPS Publishing, certificates, extra domains, and why a certificate can stay pending. 08 When you get a 403 Two different 403s, how to tell them apart, and how to let yourself back in. 09 Limits and reference Upload sizes, timeouts, PHP settings, status meanings, and a troubleshooting table.