Server Setup

While a new server is being installed, opening it in the Console shows a dedicated Setup screen instead of the usual management view. This screen gives you real-time progress, the bootstrap command (when you brought your own server), and an escape hatch if something goes wrong.

When install finishes, the Setup screen automatically gives way to the server's normal Summary view.

Two install paths

A server reaches the Setup screen one of two ways depending on how you created it:

• Provider-created — Depfloy is creating the machine for you on a connected provider (Hetzner today). You'll see a Provisioning badge while the provider is still spinning up the VM, then Installing once the machine is up and Depfloy's install script is running.
• Custom Setup — you brought your own server. You'll see Installing and a bootstrap command to copy and paste into a root SSH session on the server. Until you run the command, the server sits at "Waiting for installation to start".

What you'll see

The Setup screen shows:

• The server's name, with two status badges side by side:
  • Provisioning / Installing — which phase the setup is in
  • Online / Connecting / Offline — whether Depfloy currently has SSH reachability
• For provider-created servers: the provider name (e.g. "Hetzner") and a provisioning progress indicator while the machine is being created
• A step indicator showing what part of the install is currently happening (more on that below)
• For Custom Setup: the bootstrap command to run, plus the auto-generated root password

Install steps

The install script runs through a fixed sequence and the Setup screen tells you which step it's on. The exact steps depend on the server type:

App Servers go through 10 steps, roughly:

1. Setting up user and permissions
2. Configuring swap and disk
3. Installing dependencies
4. Installing extra dependencies
5. Installing nginx
6. Applying the final touches 7-9. Configuring services
7. Installation completed

Database Servers go through 7 steps instead, with steps 5-7 being specific to installing and configuring the chosen database engine (MySQL, PostgreSQL, or ClickHouse) and its supervisor / log-rotation tooling.

The full install typically takes 10-15 minutes; some steps are slower than others (installing dependencies is the longest).

Connection status

The Online / Connecting / Offline badge reflects Depfloy's SSH reachability to the server. For Custom Setup, it stays Offline until you run the bootstrap command and the script opens up SSH for the depfloy user. For provider-created servers it flips to Connecting once the VM is up and Online when Depfloy successfully connects.

When something goes wrong

If install fails, the Setup screen tells you:

• Where it failed — which step was running
• Why — the error message captured from the install script

For provider-created servers, a rollback may also be possible: if the failure happened before the machine reached a useful state, Depfloy can tear it down on the provider for you so you don't keep paying for an unfinished server.

If you'd rather start over, click Remove Server to delete the server from Depfloy entirely. For provider-created servers this also removes the underlying machine on the provider. For Custom Setup it only removes the entry from Depfloy; the machine itself is yours to deal with.

After install completes

When the final step finishes:

• The Console refreshes the server
• The Setup screen is replaced with the server's normal Summary view
• You'll receive a notification that the server is ready

From this point you can create your first project on it.