App Deployment Templates

Commit a .datablock/app.yaml to your repository to predefine your app's build, runtime, and environment configuration — the deploy wizard fills itself in from it.

Overview

When you deploy an app from a git repository, you normally configure the source directory, build settings, ports, and environment variables by hand in the deploy wizard. A deployment template moves that configuration into your repository: commit a .datablock/app.yaml file and the wizard reads it as soon as you select the repository, prefilling every setting it defines.

A template can describe one or more services. Each deploy sets up one service — when a template defines several, the wizard lets you pick which one to deploy, and you run the wizard again for the others.

File Location

The template is looked up on the selected branch, in this order:

.datablock/app.yaml
.datablock/app.yml

Example

# .datablock/app.yaml
name: my-platform
region: ams

services:
  - name: api
    type: service
    source_dir: apps/api
    build:
      strategy: docker
      command: bun run build
    run_command: bun start
    http_port: 8080
    internal_port: 3000
    instance_size: apps-s-1vcpu-1gb
    instances: 2
    autodeploy: true
    envs:
      - key: NODE_ENV
        value: production
      - key: DATABASE_URL
        secret: true   # value is filled in the wizard, never committed

  - name: web
    type: static
    source_dir: apps/web
    build:
      command: bun run build
      output_dir: dist

Reference

Top level

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Optional display name for the template.
`region`	string	Optional App Platform region slug (e.g. `ams`) preselected on the configure step.
`services`	list	One or more services (max 10). Required.

Service

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Required. Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens (max 32 chars). Must be unique within the file.
`type`	`service` \| `static`	Defaults to `service`. `static` builds once and serves from CDN.
`source_dir`	string	Directory containing the app, for monorepos. Defaults to the repository root.
`build.strategy`	`nixpacks` \| `buildpacks` \| `docker`	How the app is built. Defaults to auto-detection.
`build.command`	string	Build command. Leave unset to auto-detect.
`build.output_dir`	string	Build output directory. Static sites only.
`run_command`	string	Start command. Web services only.
`http_port`	number	Public HTTP port.
`internal_port`	number	Internal container port.
`instance_size`	string	App Platform instance size slug, preselected on the configure step.
`instances`	number	Instance count (1–10).
`autodeploy`	boolean	Deploy automatically on push to the selected branch.
`envs`	list	Environment variables (see below).

Environment variables

Field	Type	Description
`key`	string	Required. Letters, numbers, and underscores, starting with a letter or underscore.
`value`	string	The value. Required unless `secret: true`.
`secret`	boolean	Marks the variable as secret. Never commit secret values — leave `value` unset and the wizard prompts for it, storing it masked.

Validation

If the template exists but is invalid — malformed YAML, a missing required field, duplicate service names — the wizard shows the validation error and falls back to manual configuration. Nothing is applied from an invalid template.

Values you can still change: everything. The template only prefills the wizard; every setting remains editable before you launch, and settings changed later in the app's dashboard are not overwritten by the file.

App Deployment Templates

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