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Getting Started

Learn the basics of Ship It Squirrel

Getting Started

Welcome to Ship It Squirrel! This guide will walk you through deploying your first Rails app in about 15 minutes.

What you'll need

  • A DigitalOcean account (or other VPS provider)
  • A Rails app in a GitHub repository
  • About 15 minutes

Overview

Here's what we'll do:

  1. Connect your accounts - Link DigitalOcean and GitHub
  2. Create a server - Spin up a new droplet
  3. Set up SSH keys - So Ship It Squirrel can access your server
  4. Provision the server - Install Ruby, PostgreSQL, etc.
  5. Create an app - Configure your Rails app
  6. Deploy! - Push your code to production

Step 1: Connect your accounts

First, let's connect your DigitalOcean and GitHub accounts.

Go to Settings > Integrations and:

  1. Click "Connect DigitalOcean" and paste your API token (create one at DigitalOcean API Settings)
  2. Click "Connect with GitHub" to authorize Ship It Squirrel via OAuth

Step 2: Create a server

Go to Servers and click "Add Server".

Fill in:

  • Name: Something memorable (e.g., "production-1")
  • IP Address: Your DigitalOcean droplet's IP
  • SSH User: Usually root for new droplets
  • SSH Port: Usually 22

Save the server, then follow the SSH Keys guide to add your SSH key.

Step 3: Provision the server

On your server's page, click "Provision Server".

This installs everything your Rails app needs:

  • Ruby 3.3 (via rbenv)
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • Node.js and Yarn
  • Caddy (web server with automatic HTTPS)

This takes a few minutes. You can watch the progress in your Rails logs.

Step 4: Create an app

Go to Apps and click "Add App".

Fill in:

  • Name: Your app name (e.g., "my-rails-app")
  • Server: Select your provisioned server
  • Repository: Select from your GitHub repos
  • Branch: Usually main
  • Database: PostgreSQL
  • Rails Master Key: Paste your config/credentials/production.key

Step 5: Deploy!

On your app's page, click the big "Deploy" button.

Ship It Squirrel will:

  1. Clone your repository
  2. Install dependencies (bundle install, yarn install)
  3. Compile assets
  4. Run database migrations
  5. Start your app

Once complete, visit your server's IP address to see your app running!

Next steps

  • Set up a domain: Point your domain's DNS to your server's IP, then add the domain in your app settings
  • Enable HTTPS: Caddy automatically gets SSL certificates when you have a domain configured
  • Set up auto-deploy: Configure deploy mode to "Auto" for automatic deploys on git push

Need help?

Check out our other guides: