sidekick
Bare metal to production ready in mins; your own fly server on your VPS.
What is it?
What it is
Sidekick is a command‑line tool written in Go that turns a bare‑metal VPS into a Fly.io‑like deployment platform. It provisions the server, builds Docker images locally, transfers them, encrypts secrets with SOPS, runs containers via Docker Compose, and routes traffic through Traefik with automatic SSL.
Why it exists
The author was frustrated by the complexity of hosting side projects on a VPS. Sidekick exists to make hosting affordable, production‑ready, and as simple as a single command, enabling developers to deploy and update applications on a single VPS without vendor lock.
Who should use it
DevelopersDevOps engineersSysadmins managing their own VPSUsers wanting to avoid vendor lock-in
Who should avoid it
Beginners without server experienceUsers preferring fully managed servicesThose without a VPS
How it works
A quick walkthrough in plain English
How sidekick works
Step 1 of 3
You interact with it
Open sidekick, send a request, or connect it to your stack.
Features
Advantages
- Simplifies VPS setup and deployment with a single command
- Affordable and production-ready for side projects
- Zero downtime deployments ensure uninterrupted service
- Enables high availability and load balancing
- Automates SSL certificate management without configuration
- Supports custom domains or uses built-in sslip.io
- Secure secret management via SOPS integration
- Avoids dependency on proprietary platforms
Disadvantages
- Requires Ubuntu LTS for VPS setup
- Depends on Homebrew for installation (macOS-specific)
- Needs a public IP address for deployment
- Preview environments require clean Git history
- Some advanced features may be limited to paid versions
- Initial setup may involve technical complexity for non-experts
Installation
native
brew install sidekick
FAQ
What is Sidekick and what can it do for me?
Sidekick is a CLI tool that turns a bare‑metal VPS into a production‑ready hosting platform in minutes. It sets up Docker, Traefik, SSL, and secret management, lets you deploy any Dockerfile, supports zero‑downtime updates, load balancing, preview environments, and domain routing—all with a single command.
How do I install Sidekick on my local machine?
Install it via Homebrew: `brew install sidekick`. Homebrew is required because Sidekick uses it to install the `sops` binary on your local machine. If you don’t have Homebrew, install it from https://brew.sh/ first.
What are the prerequisites for the VPS before running `sidekick init`?
The VPS must run Ubuntu LTS (recommended), have a public IP address, and you must have an SSH key available on your local machine. Sidekick will create a new `sidekick` user, grant sudo, and disable root login for security.
What happens when I run `sidekick init`?
Sidekick logs in as root, creates a `sidekick` user with sudo, updates the system, installs Docker and Traefik, generates age keys for secrets, installs `sops`, and configures automatic SSL via Let’s Encrypt. It also copies the public key back to your local config for future encryption.
How do I launch a new application with Sidekick?
Place a working `Dockerfile` in your project folder, run `sidekick launch`, and provide a friendly name, the app’s exposed port (auto‑detected if possible), a domain (or use the default sslip.io), and optionally an `.env` file. Sidekick builds the image, encrypts the env file with `sops`, transfers the image and secrets to the VPS, and starts the container behind Traefik.
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