Introducing PulseUp Beta: Deployments That Don't Suck
Ben Harris, Founder Most deployment platforms are either overly complex or straight-up hold your app hostage. That's exactly why I started building PulseUp.
I'm Ben, a solo founder who got tired of juggling CI pipelines, black-box hosting platforms, and horrendous vendor lock-in. PulseUp is my answer: a modern deployment platform that's developer-first, transparent, and respects ownership.
From Frustration to Build Mode
This started as a side project because I was sick of serverless platforms acting like they owned my infrastructure. I wanted something lean, powerful, and built for people like me - developers who just want to ship fast and retain control.
So I built PulseUp with a different philosophy:
Bring your own server. And if you leave? Everything keeps working.
PulseUp deploys directly to your VPS, using your credentials. We don't abstract that away — we empower it.
What's Already Built
Here's what's in the Beta right now:
🧠 PulseUp Agent
Each server you connect runs the PulseUp Agent — a lightweight process that keeps a secure persistent connection to the PulseUp API. It handles deploys, log streaming, system health checks, and more. You can uninstall it any time and still have a functioning server.
🔐 Bring Your Own Key / Server
This is the core of PulseUp. You're not deploying to our infrastructure — you're deploying to your DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, Oracle, Linode, or bare metal box. We support all of them.
You add your own SSH key or let PulseUp provision one — it's all optional and under your control. Want to wipe PulseUp and keep the server? Done. No hidden hooks, no breakage, no begging for exports.
🚀 GitHub App Deployments
Push to your repo and we handle the rest. PulseUp integrates with GitHub as a proper GitHub App — secure and first-class.
🔄 Blue/Green Deployments
Every deploy spins up in a separate container, with automated or manual traffic switching. Zero downtime. Instant rollback.
🌍 Built-In Domain and SSL Management
Custom domain? Auto-provisioned. SSL cert? Done via Caddy, no extra config.
📦 Nixpacks + Docker
Zero-config builds using Nixpacks — works out of the box for most modern frameworks. But if you prefer Dockerfiles, go for it. PulseUp will handle the rest.
🛠️ Full Server Access
You can SSH into any server you deploy to. You can see it, touch it, and manage it like you always have. PulseUp just makes the process smoother.
What Makes PulseUp Different
There are plenty of platforms that make deploying fast. But most either lock you into their ecosystem, hide the infrastructure behind layers of abstraction, or break the bank.
Serverless Horrors is a perfect example — reading those stories makes my skin crawl.
PulseUp is the opposite:
- Your servers - not ours
- Your SSH keys - not proprietary access
- Your data and containers - always recoverable
- No lock-in - cancel PulseUp, your servers still run
This isn't just a convenience feature, but a trust principle: you're building software to last, and you deserve infrastructure that won't hold you hostage.
Coming Soon
- Autoscaling based on real resource usage
- Multi-region deployment
- Managed Postgres/Mongo with instant rollbacks
- Public REST API + CLI tooling
- Team collaboration with RBAC
Join the Beta
PulseUp is live in public Beta. You can sign up, link a VPS, and deploy your first app in under 5 minutes.
And if you're wondering — yes, you can cancel at any time. Your servers will still run exactly as you left them. That's the point.
I'm still hands-on during this Beta, fixing bugs and adding features based on real feedback. If you run into anything weird or have a good idea, just email me at [email protected].
Let's take deployments back from the cloud overlords.
- Ben