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Run the small box on UpCloud

Simple Host on UpCloud, or any Ubuntu server: two DNS A records point at the server; one Ubuntu server runs the installer’s docker compose, with Caddy on ports 80 and 443 fetching certificates on demand from Let’s Encrypt, the Simple Host server, Postgres, and Docker volumes for the sites, the log, the certificates and the database

UpCloud is where we recommend running a small box, and where we test it. The smallest server (1 CPU, 1 GB, Ubuntu 24.04) runs Simple Host comfortably with the standard installer: no special image and no changes.

Tested end to end on 2026-09-28 from the setup page’s own output: server created in about a minute, installer done in 50 seconds, about 3.5 minutes from prompt to a working box with HTTPS. Admin sign-in, publish, saved data and /internal/* hidden all checked. Then everything was deleted.

Create your UpCloud account — $25 in credits (referral link. New accounts through this link get $25 of UpCloud credit; their terms apply.)

Cost

Item Size Per month
Server STARTER-1xCPU-1GB 1 CPU, 1 GB, storage and one IPv4 address included about $4 (0.5208 ¢ an hour)

The database, the web server and the sites all run on that one server, so there is nothing else to pay for. The $25 credit covers about six months.

  1. Create your UpCloud account.
  2. In the UpCloud control panel, create an API token (Account → API tokens; it can have an expiry and an IP allow-list) or an API user (a sub-account with API access and only the server permissions it needs).
  3. Answer the questions at https://simple-host.app/setup?product=small-box, with UpCloud as where it runs.
  4. On the files step, run the line it gives in your own terminal (it asks for the token, or the API user’s name and password, without showing it), start your AI agent in that terminal and give it the prompt. The agent tells you the plan and its price before creating anything, creates the server with your SSH key, has you add the DNS records, runs the installer, checks /healthz and HTTPS, and tells you the admin page.
  5. When the server is up, run unset UPCLOUD_TOKEN UPCLOUD_USERNAME UPCLOUD_PASSWORD in that terminal, or close it.

The setup page never asks for or accepts UpCloud credentials.

By hand

  1. In the UpCloud control panel, deploy a server: any zone, plan STARTER-1xCPU-1GB, template Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS, and your SSH key.
  2. At your DNS provider, add two A records pointing at the server’s public IPv4 address: your domain, and *.<your domain>.
  3. Answer the questions at https://simple-host.app/setup?product=small-box with a server I already have, then run the install command it gives on the server over SSH. It fetches the installer from its pinned release and checks its sha256 before running it.
  4. Open https://<your domain>/admin and paste the admin key the installer printed (also kept as ADMIN_API_KEY in /opt/simple-host/.env).

If anything fails, paste the error at https://simple-host.app/setup?product=small-box#help.

Removing it

Delete the server and its storage in the UpCloud control panel, then remove the two DNS records. Nothing else was created.