Configure Coolify, Deploy and Manage Your First Project Like a Pro

In our previous guide, The Cheapest Way to Host & Deploy Websites with Coolify, we walked you through installing Coolify on an Ubuntu server—a powerful, affordable and the quickly becoming a popular self-hosted system to deploy and manage applications effortlessly.

Now, it’s time to take things further! In this guide, we’ll show you how to:

✔️ How to manage Coolify

✔️ Deploy your first project with GitHub integration

✔️ Set up databases like PostgreSQL & MySQL

✔️ Automate deployments with CI/CD

✔️ Monitor & manage your apps efficiently

If you’re ready to master Coolify and take full control of your web hosting at a fraction of the cost, let’s dive in!

Why Use Coolify for Deployment?

Coolify is built for developers who want more control over their applications without paying high hosting fees. Here’s why you should consider it:

✔️ Self-hosted – You own your infrastructure and data.

✔️ Supports multiple frameworks – Deploy Next.js, React, Node.js, PHP, Laravel, and more.

✔️ GitHub & GitLab integration – Set up automated CI/CD pipelines for smooth deployments.

✔️ Built-in databases – PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis, and MongoDB with one-click setup.

✔️ Automatic SSL – Secure your applications with Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates.

✔️ Docker-powered – Easily manage and scale containerized applications.

Now, let’s dive into how to manage Coolify and deploy your first project.

---

Getting Started with Coolify Dashboard

The Coolify dashboard is clean and intuitive. Here’s what you’ll find:

• Projects: Deploy and manage your applications.

• Services: Manage databases like PostgreSQL, Redis, MySQL.

• Destinations: Connect GitHub, GitLab, or custom servers.

• Activity Logs: View logs for deployments and server performance.

• Settings: Configure server settings, security, and user management.

Access your Coolify dashboard:

Once your Coolify installation is complete, you can access its web dashboard by navigating to:

https://your-server-ip:8000

Login with your admin account that you created during setup. You will then get a short introduction to Coolify. Simply click the Next button to proceed.

Configure Your Coolify:

Before deploying your project, you need to define how and where Coolify should install it. In this example, we’ll use the same cloud server running Coolify by selecting the Localhost option, allowing our test applications to run directly on the server.

Next, create your first project.

Next, select the necessary resources by clicking the “Let’s do it” button.

Now skip everything and lets jump to:

Configuring Your Domain for Coolify:

Once your Coolify account is set up, the first priority is securing access with a custom domain. Using http://your-server-ip:8000 (your server’s IP and port) is not secure since it lacks HTTPS encryption.

By linking a domain, Coolify will automatically handle proxy setup and generate SSL certificates for secure access.

To do this:

Head over to your domain provider’s DNS management page (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, etc.) and create two A records, with coolify or srv1 name as shown below:

@ allows Coolify to use the root of your domain. * allows Coolify to create and use any subdomain.

Finalizing Your Domain Setup:

Important: If your DNS provider doesn’t offer an “Auto” option for TTL, choose the lowest value available to speed up propagation.

Next, open Coolify’s settings page and enter your custom domain in the “Instance Domain” field, which will be the dashboard domain, you can make something like srv1.yourdomain.com! or coolify.yourdomain.com!

Final Step: Once you’ve added the domain, visit it in your browser. Coolify should now be accessible over HTTPS! (Give it a 5 minutes for the SSL setup to complete.)

Setting Up the Firewall for Coolify:

To secure your server, go to your cloud provider’s dashboard, find the Firewalls section, and create the following inbound rules:

Allow HTTP (80) for web traffic

Allow HTTPS (443) for secure connections

Allow SSH (22) for remote access

Important: Once the firewall is enabled, you won’t be able to access Coolify using http://your-server-ip:8000 anymore. Instead, you’ll need to use the custom domain you configured earlier (without port).  Now, access to Coolify is restricted to your domain, ensuring better security.

Good News! Every app you deploy on Coolify will automatically run over HTTPS, thanks to its built-in reverse proxy and SSL certificate management.

Coolify is Ready—Let’s Deploy Your First Project!

So far, we’ve successfully set up a custom domain, and secured the server with proper firewall rules. Now that everything is in place, let’s dive into deploying your first project using Coolify!

Deploy Your First Project:

Inside the Projects menu, you’ll find a variety of applications, databases, and services ready for deployment.

For this guide, we’ll start with a blank Docker Compose container. Simply click on its icon to open the configuration panel.

Now, it’s time to set up your Docker Compose configuration. Simply paste the configuration of the service you want to deploy.

For this example, we’ll use a basic Docker test image to ensure everything runs smoothly before deploying a real application.

Copy and paste the following Docker Compose configuration into your Coolify project to set up your deployment.

services:  
	app:    
		image: docker/welcome-to-docker    
		ports:     
		 - 8090:80

Click the “Save” button to store your configuration and return to the project setup page.

Hit the “Deploy” button to start the deployment process.

Sit back and watch Coolify work its magic!

Once your Docker container’s status changes to “Started,” verify it by visiting:

https://{sub.your-domain}

Congratulations! If everything went smoothly, you should see the success screen.

Conclusion:

In this guide, we covered how to configure Coolify, connect a domain, secure it with SSL, and deploy your first simple project using Docker Compose. With its user-friendly interface and automation capabilities, Coolify simplifies application deployment while giving you full control over your infrastructure.

If you haven’t installed Coolify on your server yet, check out The Cheapest Way to Host & Deploy Websites with Coolify for a step-by-step installation guide.

Stay tuned for the next article, where I’ll show you how to deploy Next.js, React.js, or any Node.js project using Coolify!

Need Help Setting Up Coolify?

Looking for expert assistance with installing, configuring, or managing your Coolify server? You can hire me! Whether it’s deployment, troubleshooting, or optimizing your setup, I’ll guide you every step of the way.

📩 Reach out anytime! Let’s get your self-hosted deployment running smoothly and efficiently.