Deploy & Orchestrate Docker Swarm Workloads with Total Operational Clarity
A developer-first, self-hostable control plane that transforms bare-metal or cloud servers into resilient Docker Swarm clusters. Deploy apps from Git, provision persistent databases, reload Caddy with zero downtime, and manage infrastructure with the UpGal AI copilot.
$curl -fsSL https://upstand.dev/install.sh | sudo bash
[1/5] Verifying host capacity: 8 vCPUs, 32GB RAM, 240GB NVMe... OK
[2/5] Initializing Docker Swarm overlay mesh on upstand-network... Active
[3/5] Launching core services: PostgreSQL 18, Redis 8, BullMQ queues... Running
[4/5] Provisioning Caddy dynamic reverse proxy with auto TLS & dry-run validator... Healthy
[5/5] Control plane online at http://192.168.1.100:3001
Orchestrated Swarm Availability
Faster Deployments vs Manual SSH
Downtime on Atomic Caddy Reloads
Data Sovereignty & Self-Hosted
Everything your team needs to run containers in production
Eliminate fragmented scripts, manual reverse-proxy updates, and brittle deployment pipelines. Upstand unites multi-node orchestration, database engines, and AI ops in one cohesive console.
Docker Swarm Multi-Node Clustering
Seamlessly connect manager and worker nodes over encrypted overlay networks. Rotate join tokens, drain nodes for maintenance, and ensure Raft quorum with zero split-brain risk.
Native Persistent Database Engines
One-click provisioning for PostgreSQL 18, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis, and libSQL (sqld) with persistent volumes, auto-generated secure credentials, and scheduled S3 backups via rclone.
Atomic Caddy Reverse Proxy & TLS
Every routing update is dry-run validated inside the container before dynamic compilation. Automatic Let's Encrypt certificates, forward-auth, basic-auth, and strict HSTS.
UpGal Autonomous AI Copilot
A bounded 12-step ToolLoopAgent with explicit human-in-the-loop approvals for mutating actions. Inspect cluster diagnostics, scale services, and query state using Model Context Protocol (MCP).
Zero-Agent SSH Remote Provisioning
Attach any remote Linux server via SSH keys. Upstand installs Docker Engine, initializes Swarm, provisions edge proxy, and runs independent worker queues without agent bloat.
Enterprise SSO, SCIM 2.0 & RBAC
Support for SAML 2.0, OIDC, SCIM 2.0 user directory provisioning, DNS TXT ownership challenges, Web SSH terminal restricted to global owners, and scoped API tokens (upk_...).
Engineered for durability, security, and isolation
Upstand separates the control plane from target workloads. The dashboard talks to the Hono/tRPC server, deployment queues process isolated builds via BullMQ, and Caddy dynamically routes traffic without interrupting live sockets.
1. Declarative Workload Intent
Developers push Git code or trigger Compose deploy via Web UI, CLI, or UpGal AI.
2. Queue Serialization & BuildKit
Worker queues (`deployments-queue-<nodeId>`) serialize builds using Dockerfile, Railpack, or Nixpacks.
3. Rolling Swarm Update
Docker Swarm rolls out new container replicas with health checks and rollback thresholds.
4. Atomic Caddy Config Reload
Caddy validates syntax in-memory and reloads routing tables with zero dropped TCP connections.
Atomic Caddy reloads verified in-container before memory swap. 0 ms dropped TCP connections.
Standard Docker Compose to High-Availability Swarm Stacks
Paste any regular docker-compose.yml file. Upstand automatically converts standard ports, networks, and restart policies into swarm-compatible deploy replicas, rollback policies, and isolated overlay networks.
Zero-friction translation with safety checks
Standard Docker Compose files are designed for single-machine environments. Upstand transparently synthesizes cluster-ready specifications without breaking your team's workflow.
version: "3.8"
services:
web:
image: ghcr.io/org/frontend:latest
ports:
- "80:80"
restart: always
environment:
- NODE_ENV=production
api:
image: ghcr.io/org/backend:latest
ports:
- "4000:4000"
restart: always
db:
image: postgres:18-alpine
volumes:
- data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes:
data:How Upstand compares to other PaaS & container tools
Upstand was built specifically for teams who want Docker Swarm multi-node high availability without Kubernetes complexity or single-server PaaS fragility.
| Capability | Upstand | Coolify | Portainer | Dokploy | Kubernetes (k8s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multi-Node Swarm Clustering | Native Multi-Node + Raft | Single Server / SSH Remote | Supported (Complex UI) | Single Server Swarm | Native (High Overhead) |
| Dynamic Reverse Proxy | Atomic Caddy (Dry-run verified) | Traefik | Manual / Nginx | Traefik | Ingress Controller |
| AI Operations Copilot | UpGal with Human Approval & MCP | No Native AI | No Native AI | No Native AI | External Plugins |
| libSQL & Modern DBs | Postgres 18, MySQL, Mongo, libSQL | Standard DBs | Manual Templates | Standard DBs | Operators Required |
| Enterprise SSO & SCIM 2.0 | OIDC, SAML 2.0 & SCIM Built-in | Basic Auth / SSO in Cloud | Paid Business Edition | Basic Auth Only | RBAC + Dex / Keycloak |
| Resource Footprint | Lightweight (~400MB RAM) | Moderate (~1GB RAM) | Lightweight (~250MB RAM) | Moderate (~800MB RAM) | Heavy (2GB+ per node) |
Calculate your self-hosted cloud savings
Cloud PaaS services charge hefty markups on compute, egress, and managed databases. See what you save by running Upstand on your own infrastructure.
Estimates based on comparable 4 vCPU / 16GB RAM cloud virtual machines vs Hetzner/OVH dedicated hardware and managed database fees.
Trusted by operators who value control and simplicity
Hear from engineering leads and sysadmins running container workloads in production.
"Upstand gave us the resilience of Docker Swarm clustering without having to hire a Kubernetes engineer. The atomic Caddy reloads completely eliminated our deployment 502 blips."
"UpGal AI is the first developer copilot that actually respects safety boundaries. The explicit approval card in the UI prevents any accidental destructive changes to production databases."
"We migrated 45 services from Heroku and AWS ECS to Upstand on three Hetzner dedicated servers. Our monthly cloud bill dropped from $3,400 to $220 with zero downtime."
Everything you need to know about Upstand
Technical answers to common questions about deployment, architecture, clustering, and security.
Take total control of your container cloud today
Run the single-line production installer on any clean Ubuntu/Debian server and have a complete Swarm PaaS running in under 2 minutes.
Prerequisites: Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, or Alpine Linux with root access.