Show HN: deploying a website just to transfer a file

[lionello]

Hi HN!

My name is Lio. I'm the author of the article and CTO of Defang: a CLI tool to deploy Docker Compose projects to the cloud(s).

This story on how I deployed a website just to transfer a file got many chuckles in my friend circle and it was suggested I blog about it, so here it is.

Yes, it's ridiculous, but it got the job done, and hopefully you'll enjoy the story, and perhaps the tool, too.

AMA

[rdevery]

I often use docker or bubblewrap as a sandbox for untrusted files on my own machine, but spinning up an ephemeral server/broker to deal with an untrusted machine is next-level!

Makes me want to set up a burner GitHub account for this kind of thing. Just pull a tar, follow some prompts and let it rip.

I might actually find this useful some time. Thanks lionello

[beorno]

I've been using Defang to deploy a sync server, and I'm loving it! I guess I'm partial to the simplicity of compose files. The cloud APIs are just way too bloated for the typical usage case of deploying a few services. Defang feels like what Docker Swarm/Cloud should have been.

[lionello]

Yeah compose is awesome. Makes sense to use it for local development and deployments.

[igordebatur]

Seems interesting, thx for sharing!

1. What kind of projects can you generate using Defang? What languages are 2. What if my project needs a database or queues - can I deploy that using Defang?

[lionello]

1. Generate is really just to get you started so it’s pretty primitive. Generating code for complex projects is a startup in itself. Currently the generator supports nodejs, Python, and Go.

2. You can add database or redis to your compose file. During deployment, defang has the option to map those to the respective managed versions, if the target cloud provider had that option.

[sharath39]

I'm not a developer but as a builder, I can sense how much time Defang will save when deploying apps.

[lionello]

Author here. Happy to answer any questions.

[pvg]

Blog posts can't be Show HN's, which is for things that can be tried, take a look at https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html. You could post this without the Show HN or post a Show HN that's about your project.

[lionello]

I edited the post instead to share the code right at the start. Hope that's better.

[lionello]

Looks like I can no longer edit the title.

[lionello]

Hm, yeah I see. Since it can be tried, I thought it'd be a good fit.

I'll remove the Show HN.