1# Gordon Documentation
2
3Gordon is a self-hosted container deployment platform that combines a private Docker registry with automatic container deployment.
4
5## What is Gordon?
6
7Gordon runs on your VPS and provides:
8
9- **Private Container Registry** - Push images from your local machine or CI
10- **HTTP Reverse Proxy** - Routes domains to containers automatically
11- **Push-to-Deploy** - Containers deploy when you push new images
12- **Zero-Downtime Updates** - New containers start before old ones stop
13- **Single Binary** - ~15MB RAM footprint
14
15## How It Works
16
17```
18┌─────────────────┐     push      ┌─────────────────┐
19│  Your Machine   │ ────────────> │  Gordon Server  │
20│  docker build   │               │                 │
21│  docker push    │               │  registry:5000  │
22└─────────────────┘               │  proxy:80       │
23                                  └────────┬────────┘
24                                           │
25                                           v
26                                  ┌─────────────────┐
27                                  │  Your App Live  │
28                                  │  app.domain.com │
29                                  └─────────────────┘
30```
31
321. Build your container locally where you have computing power
332. Push to your Gordon registry
343. Gordon automatically deploys and routes traffic to your container
35
36## Quick Navigation
37
38### Getting Started
39
40- [Getting Started](./getting-started.md) - Deploy your first app in minutes
41- [Installation](./installation.md) - Detailed installation instructions
42- [Upgrading](./upgrading.md) - Migration guide for breaking changes
43- [Concepts](./concepts.md) - Core concepts and architecture
44
45### Configuration
46
47- [Configuration Overview](./config/index.md) - All configuration options
48- [Server Settings](./config/server.md) - Ports, domains, and runtime
49- [Routes](./config/routes.md) - Domain to container mapping
50- [Traffic Plane](./config/traffic.md) - TCP, UDP, and TLS passthrough entrypoints
51- [Authentication](./config/auth.md) - Registry auth plus remote CLI login/token workflows
52- [Secrets](./config/secrets.md) - Secure credential storage
53- [Network Isolation](./config/network-isolation.md) - Per-app network isolation
54- [Preview Environments](./config/preview.md) - Ephemeral per-branch deployments
55- [Attachments](./config/attachments.md) - Service dependencies
56- [Logging](./config/logging.md) - Log collection and rotation
57- [Environment Variables](./config/env.md) - Per-route environment configuration
58
59### CLI Reference
60
61- [CLI Commands](./cli/index.md) - All available commands
62
63### Deployment
64
65- [Deployment Overview](./deployment/index.md) - Deployment strategies and methods
66- [GitHub Actions](./deployment/github-actions.md) - CI/CD with GitHub
67- [GitLab CI](./deployment/gitlab-ci.md) - CI/CD with GitLab
68- [Generic CI](./deployment/generic-ci.md) - Jenkins, CircleCI, Drone, and others
69- [Rollback](./deployment/rollback.md) - Version management and rollback
70
71### Reference
72
73- [Docker Labels](./reference/docker-labels.md) - Container and image labels
74- [Environment Variables](./reference/env-variables.md) - Environment variable syntax
75- [Troubleshooting](./reference/troubleshooting.md) - Common issues and solutions
76
77## Requirements
78
79- Linux VPS (Ubuntu/Debian recommended)
80- Docker or Podman runtime
81- Domain pointing to your server
82- Optional Cloudflare account or other reverse proxy for edge TLS
83
84> **Note:** Gordon can run behind Cloudflare/nginx, or terminate TLS directly on a smart TCP edge entrypoint via static certificates, public ACME certificates, or its internal CA.
85
86## Related
87
88- [Wiki Tutorials](/wiki/tutorials/index.md) - Step-by-step guides
89- [Wiki Examples](/wiki/examples/index.md) - Configuration examples