How to Add a "Deploy to DigitalOcean" Button to Your Repository

App Platform is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering that allows developers to publish code directly to DigitalOcean servers without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

The Deploy to DigitalOcean button lets users launch an app on App Platform with one click. To add it to your GitHub or GitLab repository’s README, create a deploy.template.yaml file in a .do folder at the root of your repository, then add the button to your README:

You can add the Deploy to DigitalOcean button with the following combinations:

• One Service
• One Service + Dev Database
• One Static Site
• One Static Site + Dev Database

The Deploy to DigitalOcean button only supports Dev Databases. App Platform creates a Dev Databases during deploy, but it can’t connect to managed databases.

Add the YAML File

The .do/deploy.template.yaml file contains all of the configuration details required to launch your application on App Platform. The YAML file has the same structure as a regular app spec, but the spec information goes under a spec: key. If you leave out the spec: key, the button does not work.

Here’s a sample deploy.template.yaml file for a Golang service with no database:

spec:
 name: sample-golang
 services:
 - name: web
   git:
     branch: main
     repo_clone_url: https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-golang.git

Here’s an example of a minimal deploy.template.yaml file for a Python-based service with a dev database:

spec:
  name: sample-python
  services:
    - name: sample-python
      git:
        branch: main
        repo_clone_url: https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-python.git
    databases:
    - name: example-db

Here’s an example of a minimal deploy.template.yaml for a static site:

spec:
 name: sample-html
 static_sites:
 - git:
     branch: main
     repo_clone_url: https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-html.git
   name: sample-html

You can also specify a gitlab.com URL in the repo_clone_url parameter of the YAML file.

Configure Environment Variables

If your app requires an environment variable, you must list the variable in the deploy.template.yaml file with a placeholder value. App Platform prompts you to enter values for these environment variables when you create the app.

For example, in the deploy.template.yaml file below:

• DB_FOO_1 is a secret with a default value, DB-password-testvalue. App Platform lets you edit this environment variable at app creation time. This could be a database environment variable you need to set for the app to deploy.
• EMAIL is available in plain text at runtime. App Platform prompts you to enter a value when you create the app.
• MESSAGE is available in plain text at build and runtime, with a default value of This is a greeting message. App Platform lets you edit this value when you create the app.
• DATABASE_URL is a bindable variable that points to the database connection string for example-db.

spec:
  name: sample-golang
  services:
  - name: web
    git:
      branch: main
      repo_clone_url: https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-golang.git
    envs:
    - key: DB_FOO_1
      value: "DB-password-testvalue"
      type: SECRET
    - key: EMAIL
      scope: RUN_TIME
    - key: MESSAGE
      value: "This is a greeting message"
    - key: DATABASE_URL
      scope: RUN_TIME
      value: ${example-db.DATABASE_URL}
  databases:
  - name: example-db

Add the Button

To add the button to a repo’s README file, add the following Markdown to your repo’s README file:

[![Deploy to DO](https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-blue.svg)](https://cloud.digitalocean.com/apps/new?repo=https://github.com/{REPO-OWNER}/{REPO-NAME}/tree/{BRANCH-NAME})

To add the button to a website or blog, embed the following HTML on your website:

<a href="https://cloud.digitalocean.com/apps/new?repo=https://github.com/{repo-owner}/{repo-name}/tree/{branch-name}">
 <img src="https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-blue.svg" alt="Deploy to DO">
</a>

Update the URL with your repo’s path information. For a GitLab repository, use https://gitlab.com instead of https://github.com.

Update URL Path

You must then replace the following variables in this code with the following values for the button to work:

• REPO-OWNER: The base of your GitHub or GitLab URL. This is usually your user name or organization name.
• REPO-NAME: The name given for this specific repo. This is the next path in the GitHub or GitLab URL.
• BRANCH-NAME: Common defaults are main and master but this could be any branch in your repo.

The following code embeds this image in the README or website, making it viewable by users browsing your repository on GitHub.com, GitLab.com or your website. Your code edits make the image clickable so that users can deploy your app:

Customization

If you’d prefer a different color or style of button, you can swap out the image URL https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-blue.svg, with one of the following styles:

Blue Ghost

https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-blue-ghost.svg

White Ghost

https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-white-ghost.svg

White

https://www.deploytodo.com/do-btn-white.svg

(Shown here on a black background)

Verify the Button Works

Once you’ve added the button to your repo or website, click the Deploy to DigitalOcean button. If set up correctly, the button sends you to DigitalOcean’s Control Panel and prompts you to log in. Log in to the control panel.

Note

Your GitHub repo must contain some form of an app. If the repo is empty, App Platform returns the error App detection failed - Missing app spec file when you click the deploy button.

Once logged in, the control panel prompts you to enter any environmental variables your app may require. To update environmental variable values, click Edit and then enter values for any necessary environmental variables.

Once you have entered any necessary environmental variables, click Deploy. Your app should deploy within a few minutes.

If your app does not deploy, or the button does not correctly link to DigitalOcean’s Control Panel, or the control panel doesn’t display your environmental variables, check your configuration using the set up steps above.

Get DigitalOcean Credits For Use of “Deploy to DigitalOcean” Button

If you refer someone to DigitalOcean using the Deploy to DigitalOcean button with a valid referral code, they get credits when they add a valid payment method. You also receive credit for the referral. You can find the payout amounts on the official DigitalOcean Referral Program page.

To enable this benefit for you and your users:

1. Get your unique referral code by visiting the Referrals tab on your Settings page and note the 12 character code (for example, a1b2c3d4e5f6) at the end of your referral link (for example, https://m.do.co/c/a1b2c3d4e5f6).

2. Add your referral code to the end of the URL as an additional query string beginning with refcode=.

For example, if your referral code is a1b2c3d4e5f6 and your URL is:

https://cloud.digitalocean.com/apps/new?repo=https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-nextjs/tree/main

After you add your referral code, the URL looks like this:

https://cloud.digitalocean.com/apps/new?repo=https://github.com/digitalocean/sample-nextjs/tree/main&refcode=a1b2c3d4e5f6

Note

The git URL in deploy.template.yaml must be the same as that is specified in this spec.