Getting started

Welcome to MicroApps. This guide takes you from "I just heard about this" to "I have a pod running on the internet" in about five minutes.

What MicroApps is

MicroApps is a container-based cloud hosting platform built for indie developers, students, and small teams. You get real Linux containers (we call them pods), real SSH access, custom domains with free SSL, optional email hosting, snapshots, backups, networks, and firewalls, all from one console, and all billed by the hour.

Billing is prepaid credit. The minimum top-up is $3, and the smallest pods are priced to cost about a dollar a month. See the pricing page for the current numbers.

What you'll need

• An email address
• A credit or debit card
• About five minutes

Step 1 - Create an account

1. Open console.microapps.io/register. You land on Create your account.
2. Fill in First name, Last name, Username, Email, Password and Confirm password.
3. Tick the box agreeing to the Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy. Create account stays greyed out until you do.
4. Click Create account. You are sent back to the sign-in page, with a note telling you to activate your account.
5. Click the activation link in the email we send you. Check your spam folder if it is not in your inbox.
6. Sign in with Email or Username and your password.

You land on the console's Home page: what needs attention first, then the Right now counts, a Billing card and Quick actions. The side panel on the left carries Pods, Domains and Emails under Workspace, Networks and Firewalls under Networking, Billing, Support and Settings under Account, and links to the website and this documentation under Resources. Your name at the bottom of the panel opens the profile menu, with Account settings and Sign out. The bar across the top shows where you are in the console, and holds the announcements bell and the theme switch at its right.

Step 2 - Add credit

MicroApps runs on prepaid credit. You top up an amount you are comfortable with, usage accrues by the hour, and a monthly invoice settles that usage from your balance. Nothing recharges automatically.

1. Click Billing in the side panel, under Account, or open Billing directly. You land on its Overview tab.
2. Click Add credit, at the top right.
3. Type a whole-dollar amount into Amount (USD) - $3 or more.
4. Click Proceed to Payment and pay through Stripe's secure checkout.

Stripe brings you back to a Payment successful page, and the credit is on your account. Billing & credit covers invoices, alerts and the rest.

Step 3 - Deploy your first pod

1. Open Pods in the console, or click Pods in the side panel.
2. Click New, at the top right. (An account with no pods yet offers a Create Pod button in the middle of the page instead.) You land on the Create Pod page.
3. Pick a Workload - Ubuntu is a good default. (MySQL is here too if you want a database pod.)
4. Pick a Version - 24.04 for Ubuntu.
5. Pick a Compute size. The options are CPU and RAM combinations; the smallest is fine for experimenting.
6. Type a Pod Name (optional), or leave it blank and we will name the pod for you.
7. Pick a Region. Required, and worth picking the one nearest you.
8. Optionally paste a key into SSH Public Key (optional), or choose one you have saved before.
9. Pick a Storage size. The options are listed in GB, and 5 GB is plenty to start.
10. Click Create Pod.

You come back to the pods table with your pod in it, and its Status goes from Initializing to Running, usually in under a minute. Click its name to open the pod's page.

If you did not add an SSH key, a one-time login password is shown right after creation, so copy it then and there. It is not shown again.

Network (optional) and Firewall (optional) only appear on the form once you have one to choose, so a new account will not see them. Leaving them out is fine: the pod gets a private network in its region, and a firewall that blocks all public traffic until you add your own IP to it.

Step 4 - Connect

Both routes start on the pod's page: open Pods and click the pod's name in the table.

• SSH - open the Connection Strings tab for the public host, the external port mapped to SSH, and the username. See Connecting via SSH.
• Browser console - click Shell for a terminal in your browser, no client required. See Web console.

If SSH times out, suspect the firewall before anything else: a pod created without one gets a firewall that blocks all public traffic until your IP is on its allow-list. Networks & firewalls shows you where to add it. The browser Shell works either way.

What next?

• Map a custom domain and enable SSL.
• Set up snapshots and backups so you never lose data.
• Lock things down with networks and firewalls.
• Invite your team and hand out scoped access.
• Read about the billing model so you know exactly what you are paying for.

That's it. Welcome aboard.