Features¶

Hop3 is an open-source Platform as a Service (PaaS) for deploying and managing web applications on a single server.

Core Features¶

Multi-Language Support¶

Deploy applications in any popular programming language:

Git-Based Deployment¶

Push to deploy with simple Git workflows:

# Deploy from local directory
hop3 deploy myapp

# Deploy from Git repository
hop3 deploy myapp --git https://github.com/user/repo

Database Addons¶

Managed database services with automatic connection configuration:

• PostgreSQL - Full-featured relational database
• MySQL/MariaDB - Popular relational database
• Redis - In-memory data store and cache

hop3 addons:create postgres mydb
hop3 addons:attach mydb --app myapp
# DATABASE_URL automatically injected

Automatic SSL/TLS¶

Free SSL certificates via Let's Encrypt with automatic renewal:

• Automatic provisioning when HOST_NAME is configured
• Automatic renewal before expiration
• Support for custom certificates

Reverse Proxy¶

Automatic Nginx configuration for each application:

• HTTP/HTTPS routing
• WebSocket support
• Custom domain support
• Load balancing (multiple workers)

Process Management¶

Robust process management via uWSGI:

• Procfile-based worker configuration
• Automatic restart on failure
• Graceful shutdown and reload
• Multiple worker processes

Environment Configuration¶

Flexible configuration management:

hop3 config:set myapp KEY=value
hop3 config:show myapp

CLI Interface¶

Full-featured command-line interface:

hop3 apps               # List applications
hop3 app:status myapp   # Application details
hop3 app:logs myapp     # View logs
hop3 app:restart myapp  # Restart application

Web Dashboard¶

Browser-based management interface:

• Application overview and status
• Real-time log viewing
• System health monitoring
• User authentication

Application Configuration¶

hop3.toml¶

Declarative application configuration:

[app]
name = "myapp"

[build]
before-build = ["npm install"]
build = "npm run build"

[run]
web = "npm start"

[env]
NODE_ENV = "production"

[[provider]]
name = "postgres"

See the Configuration Reference for full documentation.

Infrastructure¶

Supported Operating Systems¶

• Debian 12 (Bookworm) - Recommended
• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 24.04 LTS
• Rocky Linux 9
• NixOS (experimental)

Single-Server Architecture¶

Hop3 is designed for single-server deployments:

• Simple installation and maintenance
• All components on one machine
• Ideal for small to medium workloads
• No Kubernetes or Docker required for production

Plugin Architecture¶

Extensible via plugins:

• Builders: Local, Docker, Nix (planned)
• Toolchains: Language-specific build tools
• Deployers: uWSGI, Docker Compose, Static
• Proxies: Nginx, Caddy (planned), Traefik (planned)
• Addons: PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis

Security¶

Authentication¶

• JWT-based API authentication
• Session-based web authentication
• API token generation for automation

Application Isolation¶

• Separate directories per application
• Isolated virtual environments
• Dedicated database credentials
• Process isolation via uWSGI

Network Security¶

• Automatic SSL/TLS encryption
• Firewall-friendly (ports 80/443)
• Database connections over localhost

Operational Features¶

Health Checks¶

hop3 system:check --verbose

Checks: - Core services (hop3-server, nginx, uwsgi) - Database addons - Disk space - SSL certificates

Backup & Restore¶

hop3 backup:create mydb
hop3 backup:list
hop3 backup:restore mydb --backup <file>

Logging¶

hop3 app:logs myapp --follow
hop3 system:logs

Roadmap Features¶

The following features are planned for future releases:

Comparison¶

vs Heroku¶

• Self-hosted: Full control over infrastructure
• No vendor lock-in: Open source, run anywhere
• Cost: Free software, pay only for hosting
• Similar DX: Git push deployment, addons, environment config

vs Dokku¶

• Modern stack: Python-based, Litestar framework
• Plugin system: Pluggy-based extensibility
• Web UI: Built-in dashboard
• Database: SQLAlchemy ORM for metadata

vs Kubernetes¶

• Simplicity: Single server, no orchestration complexity
• Target: Small to medium deployments
• Learning curve: Minutes to deploy, not days
• Resource efficient: No cluster overhead