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Build Settings

Build settings control how Appliku builds your application into a Docker image. You can configure these in Application Settings > Build Settings tab.

Build Image​

Select a pre-configured build image from the dropdown. Appliku provides images for common stacks:

  • Python (various versions)
  • Node.js (various versions)
  • Ruby (various versions)
  • Custom -- use your own Dockerfile

The build image determines the base environment and available system packages for your application.

Build Command​

The build command runs during the image build phase. Use it for tasks like:

  • Installing dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
  • Compiling assets: npm run build
  • Running any pre-deployment preparation

The build command has access to your source code and build environment variables.

Custom Dockerfile​

If the pre-configured build images do not meet your needs, you can write a custom Dockerfile directly in the editor. This gives you full control over the build environment, system packages, and build steps.

When using a custom Dockerfile, the build image dropdown is ignored.

Dockerfile Path and Context​

If your Dockerfile is not in the root of your repository, configure:

  • Dockerfile path -- relative path to the Dockerfile (e.g., docker/Dockerfile)
  • Build context -- the directory to use as the Docker build context (e.g., . or src/)

Container Port​

The port your application listens on inside the container. The default is 8000.

Appliku configures Nginx to proxy incoming HTTP traffic to this port. Make sure your application binds to this port, or update this setting to match.

Additional Options​

Skip Release Command​

When enabled, the release process is skipped during deployment. This is useful if you want to temporarily bypass migrations or other release steps without removing the release process definition.

Expose Web Port​

Controls whether the application's web port is exposed through Nginx. Disable this for applications that do not serve HTTP traffic, such as background workers or consumers.

Allow Placement on Manager Nodes​

This option is shown only for applications deployed to a Docker Swarm cluster. By default, when the cluster has worker nodes, application services are constrained to worker nodes only. Enable this toggle to let manager nodes also run application workloads. Per-process placement constraints still take precedence. See Placement Constraints for details.

Static Site​

Enable this toggle if your application is a static site (HTML, CSS, JavaScript files only). When enabled:

  • Appliku serves the built files directly through Nginx without running a persistent application process
  • Specify the output directory that contains your built static files (e.g., build/, dist/, public/)
  • Static sites work on both standalone servers and Docker Swarm clusters. On clusters, the build and serving both happen on the load balancer node — no swarm services or container registry are involved.

Configuration via appliku.yml​

All build settings can also be defined in your appliku.yml file, which is applied automatically on each deploy.

Nginx Configuration​

Nginx-related options — including Update Nginx Configuration on Deploy, custom config, subdomain settings, and HTTP access control — have moved to the dedicated Nginx tab in Application Settings. See Nginx Settings for details.