yarder Get started

No Docker necessary

Self-host without becoming a DevOps engineer.

Describe your app once. yarder dev runs it as native processes on your laptop. The same yaml is how yarder deploy will put that stack on a VPS you own. nginx, PM2, SSL — not your problem.

Develop in the same environment you deploy to.

$ npx yarder init See the model

Coming to npm. For solo Node developers who left Railway for a $5 box — and then remembered nginx.

~/my-saas 
$yarder dev
waiting for postgres …
  postgres  healthy
waiting for redis …
  redis     healthy
waiting for api …
  api       healthy   http://api.my-saas.test
  web       healthy   http://web.my-saas.test

injected  API_URL  DATABASE_URL  REDIS_URL
GUI       http://127.0.0.1:3001

The false choice

Pay a platform premium, or become your own DevOps team.

Railway / Render

Excellent DX. You don't own the box, the data, or the bill once the app stays up.

Coolify / Compose

Self-hosted PaaS — if you're willing to make Docker the product. Most Node apps don't need that.

Raw VPS

Cheap Hetzner box. Then nginx, certbot, PM2, ports, .env drift, and five terminal tabs.

Application-shaped

One yaml. Same verbs locally and in production.

yarder.yaml not compose 
name: my-saas

services:
  web:
    command: npm run dev
    dir: ./web
    port: 3000
  api:
    command: npm run start
    dir: ./api
    port: 4000
    health: /health
  worker:
    command: npm run worker
    dir: ./worker

  postgres:
    type: postgres

  redis:
    type: redis
  1. 01

    Describe processes, not images

    Web, API, worker are start commands and directories. Postgres and Redis are managed capabilities — you ask for them, you don't author a Compose service.

  2. 02

    yarder dev — shipping now

    Starts in dependency order, waits until each service is healthy, injects discovery URLs, routes .test hostnames through nginx, and opens a GUI with logs.

  3. 03

    yarder deploy — next

    Same file, same mental model, on a VPS you already have. Process supervision, reverse proxy, TLS. You think about shipping an app, not configuring a server.

The GUI

A dashboard for people who don't live in the terminal.

Health, hostnames, restarts, masked env, live logs. Local today. Staging and production from the same verbs next.

my-saas Local /Users/you/my-saas
Start all Stop all yarder
web healthy

app

web.my-saas.test

48 MB

api healthy

app

api.my-saas.test

112 MB

worker healthy

app

no port

61 MB

postgres healthy

managed

DATABASE_URL

managed

redis healthy

managed

REDIS_URL

managed

Logs all api web
10:42:00apiGET /users 200 12ms
10:42:01webHMR update ./App.tsx
10:42:02apiGET /health 200 2ms
10:42:03workerjob email.welcome completed
10:42:04postgrescheckpoint complete

Why not Coolify

Not a Compose UI. Not a PaaS you rent.

yarder Coolify Foreman / PM2
No Docker required yes — yes
GUI yes yes —
Local + production, same model coming — —
You own the server yes yes yes
Application-shaped config yes — partial

Railway and Render still win if you want zero servers. yarder is for when you want the box.

Right now

Free while it's early. No paid plans yet.

Shipping

Local yarder.yaml + yarder dev: native processes, nginx hostnames, health, env, and a GUI with logs.

Next

yarder deploy to a VPS you already have. Same file, process supervision, reverse proxy, TLS.

Later

Git deploy, monitoring, and paid tiers if the ops work is worth a subscription. Not priced until it exists.

FAQ

Self-hosting without Docker, Coolify, or a PaaS bill.

What is yarder?

yarder is a developer tool for solo Node developers who want to self-host without becoming a DevOps engineer. You describe processes in a yarder.yaml. yarder dev runs them as native processes on your laptop with a GUI. Deploying that same stack to a VPS you own is next.

Do I need Docker to use yarder?

No. App services are start commands and directories. Postgres and Redis are managed capabilities you ask for — you do not author a Compose file. Docker is not the product surface.

Is yarder a Coolify alternative?

Same job — self-host on a server you own — different model. Coolify is Docker and Compose shaped. yarder is application shaped: processes, directories, and a yaml that is not Compose. Railway and Render still win if you want zero servers.

Can I deploy to production with yarder today?

Not yet. The current slice is local: yarder.yaml, yarder dev, hostname routing, health checks, and a GUI with logs. yarder deploy to a VPS you already have is the next slice.

Is yarder free?

Yes while it is early. There are no paid plans yet. You still pay your VPS provider if you self-host.