Deploying Your App

Ileen’s Deploy Mode lets you ship your project to any cloud provider through a friendly assistant. You chat with it, answer a few questions, provide your cloud credentials securely, and it handles the rest — building, provisioning, and verifying everything.

Applies to: Deploy Mode

Before you start

Have these ready:

An Ileen project with at least one repository linked (from Design or Develop Mode)
Cloud provider credentials for the services you want to deploy to (see Which credentials do I need?)
A few minutes of your time — the assistant does the heavy lifting

The deploy process at a glance

When you click Start Deploy, the assistant walks you through four phases:

Phase	What happens	What you do
1. Discovery	The assistant scans your code and figures out your tech stack	Nothing — it’s automatic
2. Infrastructure plan	It plans what services you need (database, storage, cache)	Pick where each component should live
3. Credentials	It asks for your cloud provider keys	Add them in the Secrets Panel on the right
4. Deploy & verify	It builds, deploys, and checks everything	Wait for the green checkmark

Step 1 — Open Deploy Mode

Open the Ileen app.
Use the mode selector in the sidebar footer and click Deploy.
Select your project from the left sidebar.

The welcome screen shows a summary of what to expect — four numbered cards explaining each phase. Click Start Deploy in the chat to begin.

Step 2 — Discovery

The assistant analyzes every repository in your project. It reads your code, checks for Dockerfiles, package.json, pyproject.toml, and other configuration files to determine:

What kind of app each repo is (frontend, backend, worker)
What runtime and framework it uses
What external services it needs (database, Redis, storage, email)
What environment variables it expects

After analysis, the assistant presents a clear summary and asks where you want to deploy.

Step 3 — Choose your providers

The assistant asks you to pick cloud providers for your services. You’ll see clickable buttons with the options — just click one instead of typing.

For example:

“I found a FastAPI backend that needs PostgreSQL and a React frontend. Where would you like to deploy?”

Available options appear as buttons: AWS (ECS), GCP (Cloud Run), Vercel, Fly.io, and so on. Only providers that are actually available appear — the assistant checks which tools are installed and only offers what works.

If the assistant asks a yes/no question (like “Ready to proceed?”), you’ll see:

✅ Yes, proceed — confirm and continue
❌ No, change — go back and adjust

Of course, you can always type your own answer if you prefer.

Step 4 — Review the infrastructure plan

The assistant creates a complete plan showing exactly what will be deployed and where. Review it carefully — this is your last chance to make changes before deployment starts.

The left sidebar updates live with:

Selected providers — which clouds are configured and which still need credentials
Infrastructure plan — every component (database, cache, CDN) with its status

If something doesn’t look right, tell the assistant — it will revise the plan.

Step 5 — Provide credentials (Secrets Panel)

When the assistant needs your cloud provider keys, never paste them in the chat. Use the Secrets Panel instead.

How to add credentials

The assistant tells you which provider needs credentials and what permissions are required
A 🛡️ Go to Secrets Panel → button appears in the chat — click it to highlight the panel
In the right sidebar, click the 🔑 Needs Credentials entry for your provider
A secure form opens showing the exact format expected (e.g. JSON or API token)
Paste your credential and click Store Securely

The panel checks your input immediately — if you paste invalid JSON or a key that’s too short, you’ll see an error right away, before anything is sent.

Which credentials do I need?

Each provider needs specific credentials:

Provider	What you need	Format
AWS	Access Key ID + Secret Access Key	JSON: `{"access_key_id": "...", "secret_access_key": "..."}`
GCP	Service Account key	JSON key file from GCP Console
Azure	Service Principal	JSON: `{"appId": "...", "password": "...", "tenant": "..."}`
Vercel	API Token	Plain text token
Netlify	Personal Access Token	Plain text token
Fly.io	API Token	Plain text token
Railway	API Token	Plain text token
MongoDB Atlas	API Key	Plain text key
Supabase	Access Token	Plain text token
Upstash	API Key	Plain text key
DigitalOcean	API Token	Plain text token

Step 6 — Monitor the deployment

During deployment, a progress bar appears in the chat showing exactly which phase you’re in:

discovery → provider_selection → infrastructure_planning → credential_gathering → deploying → verifying → completed

Each step lights up green as it’s completed. Below the bar, a live message keeps you informed: “Building Docker image…”, “Deploying backend to Cloud Run…”, “Configuring environment variables…”.

The sidebar also updates in real time — each infrastructure component goes from planned → deploying → deployed.

Deploy Mode runs as a background job — you can close the tab and your deployment continues. When you come back, the results will be waiting.

Step 7 — Access your deployed app

When deployment finishes, you’ll see a green banner in the chat with your live URLs. The assistant shows:

The main URL for your app
Per-service URLs (frontend, backend, etc.)
A summary of what was created

Click any URL to open it directly. Your app is live.

Handling errors

If something fails during deployment, don’t worry — the assistant handles it gracefully:

Partial deployments

If some services deploy but others fail, you’ll see a Partial ⚠️ status. The services that succeeded are live and accessible. The failed services are clearly marked in the infrastructure plan.

Fix & Redeploy

If something isn’t working right after deployment, or if you get a partial result:

Describe the problem in the chat (e.g. “The login page shows a 500 error”)
Click the 🔧 Fix & Redeploy button
The assistant finds the bug, fixes it in your code, and redeploys the affected services automatically

This works whether your deployment completed fully or partially.

If everything fails

If the entire deployment fails, click Retry Deploy in the chat. The assistant picks up where it left off — it doesn’t start from scratch.

Tips for a smooth deployment

Have your credentials ready before you click Start Deploy — you’ll need them during the credentials phase
Use the quick reply buttons — clicking is faster than typing and avoids misunderstandings
Answer one question at a time — the assistant works step by step
Use the Secrets Panel — it’s the only secure way to provide credentials. Never paste them in the chat
You can close the tab — the deployment continues in the background
If stuck, ask for help — describe what you need and the assistant will guide you

Supported cloud providers

Provider	Best for
GCP (Cloud Run)	Containerized backends, full-stack apps with Docker
AWS (ECS)	Enterprise backends, complex infrastructure
Azure (Container Apps)	Microsoft ecosystem, enterprise deployments
Vercel	Frontend apps, Next.js, static sites
Netlify	Static sites, Jamstack apps
Fly.io	Containerized apps with edge deployment
Railway	Quick prototyping, full-stack apps

The assistant automatically detects which providers are available and only offers working options.

Next steps

Tutorial 04: Deploy Mode — interactive walkthrough with a live demo
Writing a good brief — set up your project for a successful deploy
Git credentials — needed for the Fix & Redeploy feature
Monitoring jobs — understand background job status