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Deployments
What starts a deployment, what happens in each step, what each status means, and how to cancel, roll back, restart or pause.
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A deployment takes one commit of your branch, builds it and puts it online. Each one is kept in the list under Deployments, with its commit, who started it, how long it took and its build log.
What starts a deployment
Section titled “What starts a deployment”| Trigger | When |
|---|---|
| Git push | You push to the branch of the app, and Deploy on push is on |
| Manual | You choose Deploy at the top of the app. The newest commit of the branch is deployed |
| Redeploy | You choose Restart, or Redeploy now after a change to variables or settings. The current version is put online again with the settings as they are now |
| Rollback | You choose Roll back to this on an earlier deployment |
| Domain change | You add, remove or change a domain. The current version is rolled out again so it answers at the new address |
The first deployment starts by itself when you create the app.
The steps
Section titled “The steps”- Build. The code of that commit is fetched, your packages are installed and your build command runs. A build may take up to 30 minutes. See Build settings.
- Deploy commands. If you set any, they run now, once. See Deploy commands.
- Release. The new version starts on one replica first. It has 2 minutes to start listening on its port. Then the other replicas follow.
If a step fails, the deployment stops and the version that was running stays online. Your visitors do not see a failed deployment.
Status
Section titled “Status”| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued | It waits to start |
| Building | Packages are installed and the build command runs |
| Deploying | The new version is being released |
| Live | This version answers requests now |
| Superseded | It was live until a newer deployment went live |
| Failed | A step failed. The deployment page says which, and why |
| Cancelled | It was stopped before it finished |
Deploy on push
Section titled “Deploy on push”Deploy on push is on for a new app: every push to the branch starts a deployment. Switch it off under Settings, General to deploy by hand only. The change applies as soon as you save.
Cancel a deployment
Section titled “Cancel a deployment”Open the deployment and choose Cancel deployment. This works until the release has started. After that, let it finish and roll back if you need to.
Roll back
Section titled “Roll back”Open an earlier deployment under Deployments and choose Roll back to this.
- It is quick when the build is still kept. The builds of recent deployments are kept and reused. For an older one, the commit is built again first.
- It uses your settings as they are now. Variables and scaling are the current ones, not those of that day.
- Deploy commands do not run. A rollback does not undo a database migration. Check that the old code still works with the database as it is.
Restart
Section titled “Restart”Restart puts the current version online again on every replica, for an app that hangs or leaks memory. It counts as a deployment and appears in the list.
Pause and resume
Section titled “Pause and resume”Pause, under More actions, stops the app and removes its replicas. A paused app does not deploy: pushes are ignored until you choose Resume.
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