Announcing Hop3 0.4 Beta: A Modern Open-Source PaaS¶

We're excited to announce the first public beta of Hop3, an open-source Platform as a Service designed for simplicity, security, and strategic autonomy.

What is Hop3?¶

Hop3 is a PaaS that lets you deploy and manage web applications on your own server. Think Heroku, but self-hosted and without the complexity of Kubernetes or Docker Swarm.

# Install Hop3 on your server
curl -LsSf https://hop3.cloud/install-server.py | sudo python3 -

# Deploy an app
git push hop3 main

That's it. Your app is live with automatic SSL, reverse proxy configuration, and process management.

Why We Built Hop3¶

Modern deployment platforms tend toward two extremes: managed services that lock you in (Heroku, Render, Railway) or container orchestrators that require dedicated operations teams (Kubernetes, Nomad).

We wanted something in between:

• Simple: One server, one command to deploy
• Sovereign: Your code runs on your infrastructure
• Secure: No containers required in production (though we support them)
• Extensible: Plugin architecture for customization

Hop3 builds on the foundation of piku, adding a modern client-server architecture, multi-language toolchains, and a plugin system.

What Works Today¶

Multi-Language Support¶

Deploy applications in any of these languages:

Database Addons¶

Provision databases with a single command:

# Create a PostgreSQL database
hop3 addons:create postgres myapp-db

# Attach it to your app (injects DATABASE_URL)
hop3 addons:attach myapp myapp-db

Supported addons: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis.

Automatic SSL¶

Hop3 integrates with Let's Encrypt for automatic certificate provisioning and renewal. Point your domain, deploy your app, and HTTPS just works.

Reverse Proxy Options¶

Choose your reverse proxy:

• Nginx (default) - Battle-tested, excellent performance
• Caddy - Automatic HTTPS, simple configuration
• Traefik - Dynamic configuration, container-native

Multi-Distribution Support¶

Hop3 runs on:

• Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04
• Debian 12, 13
• Fedora 41+
• Rocky Linux 9, AlmaLinux 9

Architecture¶

Hop3 uses a client-server architecture:

┌─────────────┐         ┌─────────────────┐
│  hop3 CLI   │──SSH───▶│   hop3-server   │
│  (local)    │  tunnel │   (remote)      │
└─────────────┘         └─────────────────┘

The CLI (hop3) runs on your development machine. It communicates with hop3-server via JSON-RPC over SSH or HTTPS. This means:

• No agent to install on your laptop
• Secure by default (SSH or JWT auth)
• Works from anywhere

Getting Started¶

Install the Server¶

On a fresh Ubuntu/Debian server:

curl -LsSf https://hop3.cloud/install-server.py | sudo python3 -

Install the CLI¶

On your development machine, install via pip or uv:

pip install hop3-cli
# or
uv tool install hop3-cli

Deploy Your First App¶

# Add the Hop3 remote
git remote add hop3 hop3@your-server.com:myapp

# Deploy
git push hop3 main

Or use the CLI directly:

hop3 deploy myapp

What's Coming¶

Hop3 is in active development. Here's what we're working on:

• Web Dashboard: Browser-based management UI
• More Addons: MongoDB, Elasticsearch, RabbitMQ
• Backup/Restore: Automated backups with point-in-time recovery
• Monitoring: Built-in metrics and alerting
• Nix Integration: Reproducible builds with Nix

Get Involved¶

Hop3 is open source under the Apache 2.0 license.

• GitHub: github.com/abilian/hop3
• Documentation: hop3.cloud
• Issues: Report bugs and request features on GitHub

We'd love your feedback. Try deploying an app and let us know how it goes!

Acknowledgments¶

Hop3 development is supported by NGI Zero through the European Commission's Next Generation Internet program. We're grateful for their support of open-source infrastructure.

Ready to try Hop3? Check out our first deployment tutorial or jump straight to the Installation instructions. To understand our motivation, read Why We're Building Hop3.