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A Wisp application runs on Sevalla as a Gleam application on the Erlang virtual machine (the BEAM): Ingot, Sevalla’s builder, compiles it from your Git repository with gleam export erlang-shipment, and the web process runs the shipment’s start script, /app/entrypoint.sh run, on Erlang/OTP 29. Wisp handles the requests, and Mist, the web server under it, listens on the port that Sevalla sets in the PORT environment variable.

At a glance

Environment variables

Before you begin

  • A Sevalla company with a payment method, and a GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket account for the repository. See Git providers.
  • Gleam 1.19 on your computer, with Erlang/OTP 29 and rebar3, which compiles the Erlang packages that Mist depends on. See Installing Gleam.

Create the project

Create a project and add Wisp, Mist and the packages the server uses:
gleam new creates gleam.toml, src/storefront.gleam, a test, a .gitignore that lists /build, and a Git repository. gleam add adds Wisp 2, Mist 6, gleam_json for JSON and envoy to read environment variables, and writes the exact version of every package to manifest.toml. Replace src/storefront.gleam with a JSON API and a health endpoint:
src/storefront.gleam
  • Mist listens on 127.0.0.1 unless you bind it elsewhere. mist.bind("0.0.0.0") makes it listen on all network interfaces, so Sevalla’s proxy can reach it.
  • PORT is the web process’s port, which Sevalla sets (8080 by default). On your computer, the server uses port 8080.
  • SECRET_KEY_BASE is the key Wisp signs and encrypts cookies with. The server stops at start with SECRET_KEY_BASE is not set when it’s missing, so a deployment without it never serves requests. Every instance and every deployment needs the same key, or cookies that an earlier one set stop working.
  • wisp.log_request logs each request, such as INFO 200 GET /api/products, to the runtime logs.

Prepare the project for Sevalla

Set the Gleam version that the project needs in gleam.toml, under version:
gleam.toml
The project needs no other configuration. Ingot builds it with gleam export erlang-shipment, which compiles the project and its packages to Erlang bytecode in build/erlang-shipment, with entrypoint.sh, the script that starts the main function of the module named after the project. The image runs the shipment on erlang:29-slim, the Erlang/OTP release that the Gleam image compiled it with, without Gleam itself. Run the server on your computer with a key for the session, and open http://localhost:8080/api/products to check it:
gleam new already created a Git repository, so commit everything and push it to your Git provider:

Deploy to Sevalla

These steps build with Ingot. To build from your own Dockerfile instead, see Deploy with a Dockerfile.
1

Create the application

In the sidebar, click Applications, then click Create > Application. Under Source, click Private repository, then choose the Git provider, the Repository and the Branch. Under Location, choose a Data center. Keep the Size at H1 or choose a larger one, then click Create application. The application opens on its Overview tab with the status Not deployed yet: creating an application doesn’t deploy it.
2

Add the secret key

Click the Environment variables tab, then click Add environment variables. Enter SECRET_KEY_BASE as the key and 64 random characters as the value: openssl rand -base64 48 prints them. Clear Available during buildtime, so the key stays out of the build, then click Add environment variables.
3

Deploy

Click the Overview tab, then click Deploy now under Recent deployments. Check the Branch and click Deploy.
4

Turn on auto-deploy

To deploy every push to the branch automatically, click the Settings tab, then click Update auto-deploy in the Auto-deploy section. Turn on Auto-deploy and click Update auto-deploy. See Deployments.

Verify the deployment

  1. On the Deployments tab, click the deployment. Its Build log shows Ingot’s build plan: Gleam from the requirement in gleam.toml, the shipment’s start script, and the Gleam and Erlang images.
    Build log
  2. Wait for the deployment’s status to change to Deployed. The application’s status next to its name changes to Running.
  3. Click the domain under the application’s name, for example storefront-x7k2m.sevalla.app, and add /api/products to the address. The response is:
    /api/products/2 returns one product, /api/products/9 returns {"error":"product not found"} with status 404, and /healthz returns {"status":"ok"}.
The application header with its name, Running status, repository, branch and the domain that opens the applicationThe application header with its name, Running status, repository, branch and the domain that opens the application
The application’s runtime logs show Listening on http://0.0.0.0:8080, then one line per request, such as INFO 200 GET /api/products. Wisp colors the level with terminal escape codes, which the API returns as part of each log message. If the deployment fails, read its build log, then see Troubleshoot. To check the deployment from a terminal or an AI agent, read its status with Get deployment (getDeploymentV3) until it’s success, and its build log with Get application deployment logs (getApplicationDeploymentLogsV3), as in Deploy with the API. Then request the endpoints:
Get application runtime logs (getApplicationRuntimeLogsV3) with search finds the start of the server:

Shut down gracefully

When Sevalla stops an instance, during a deployment, a restart or a scale-down, it waits 5 seconds, sends SIGTERM, and stops the instance if it’s still running 30 seconds after the shutdown began. See How processes run. The Erlang virtual machine handles SIGTERM itself: it stops the running applications in order, then exits, so the server needs no code for it. entrypoint.sh replaces itself with the Erlang runtime, which receives the signal from tini in Ingot’s image, or directly as process 1 in the Dockerfile. On every deployment, the old instance’s runtime logs end with the runtime’s notice, in the format that wisp.configure_logger gives Erlang’s log messages:
Runtime logs

Add a health check

A readiness probe makes each new instance wait for /healthz to answer before it gets traffic, so a deployment switches over only to instances that serve requests. An instance that stops at start, for example without SECRET_KEY_BASE, never passes the probe, and the previous deployment keeps serving.
1

Open the web process

On the application’s Processes tab, click ⋯ on the Web process, then click Update process.
2

Turn on the readiness probe

Under Health checks, turn on Readiness probe and set the Path to /healthz. Keep the Port at the web process’s port, 8080 unless you changed it.
3

Save and deploy

Click Update process, then click Deploy in the undeployed changes bar at the bottom of the page.
The deployment’s status changes to Deployed once the new instance answers the probe. See Health checks for every probe setting. Deploy with the API sets the same probe. Get process (getProcessV3) returns it in readiness_probe:

Deploy with a Dockerfile

Ingot needs no Dockerfile. Write your own when you want full control of the image: the base image, the system packages and every layer. Add a Dockerfile and a .dockerignore to the root of the repository:
Dockerfile
.dockerignore
The .dockerignore keeps the Git history, the GitHub workflow, local environment files, logs and your local build folder out of the build. Commit and push both files. Ingot doesn’t build from your Dockerfile, and it adds the patterns in .dockerignore to its own, so you can keep both files in a repository that builds with Ingot. Then switch the application to the Dockerfile build strategy:
1

Choose the Dockerfile build strategy

On the application’s Settings tab, in the Build strategy section, click Update build strategy. Click Dockerfile, keep the Dockerfile path Dockerfile and the Docker context ., then click Update build strategy.
2

Deploy

Click the Overview tab, then click Deploy now under Recent deployments. Check the Branch and click Deploy.
The deployment’s build log shows 📦 Building and pushing docker image using Dockerfile... instead of Ingot’s build plan, and its Dockerfile tab shows your file. When the deployment’s status is Deployed, /api/products returns the same JSON. With Cache enabled in the build strategy, the next deployment of a code change shows the gleam deps download step as CACHED in the build log. See Dockerfile. With the API, Update application (updateApplicationV3) switches the build strategy. Then deploy and wait as in Deploy with the API:
The CLI does the same with sevalla apps update $APP_ID --data '{"build_type":"dockerfile","dockerfile_path":"Dockerfile","docker_context":"."}'. The new deployment’s build log names the Dockerfile build:

Deploy changes

With Auto-deploy on, every push to the branch starts a deployment; otherwise, click Deploy now for each change. Each deployment builds the image, then replaces the web process’s instances. When you add a package with gleam add, commit gleam.toml and manifest.toml with the code. See Deployments.

Use environment variables

Add configuration on the application’s Environment variables tab and read it with envoy.get, as the server reads PORT and SECRET_KEY_BASE. The server reads them when it starts, and variables apply at the next deployment. Variables marked Available during buildtime also reach the build; Gleam code reads none of them while it compiles. The Erlang runtime reads ERL_FLAGS when it starts: +S 1 runs it on 1 scheduler thread, to match an H1 instance, where it would otherwise start one per CPU of the server. See How Gleam applications run on Sevalla and Environment variables.

Add a custom domain

To serve the application from your own domain, such as shop.example.com, add the domain on the application’s Domains tab and create the DNS records that Sevalla shows. Custom domains need a web process larger than H1, so scale the web process first. See Custom domains.

Troubleshoot

For more causes, see Troubleshoot Ingot builds and Troubleshoot builds and deployments.

Deploy with the API

These calls make the same deployment as Deploy to Sevalla and Add a health check, in an order that a script or an AI agent runs as it is. Each step names the Sevalla API operation, then the CLI command and the MCP server tool that do the same. You need:
  • An API key with the Company developer role, or the APP:CREATE, APP:READ and APP:UPDATE permissions, in the SEVALLA_API_KEY environment variable. The CLI reads the key from SEVALLA_API_TOKEN.
  • The repository on a Git provider that’s connected to your Sevalla account. See Git providers. Creating the application checks it: when Sevalla can’t read the repository, the call returns 400 with Cannot access repository https://github.com/acme/storefront: Repository not found or you don't have access., followed by where to grant access.
  • curl, jq and openssl.
1

Choose the location

List clusters (listClustersV3) returns the locations your company can use, each with its id, the display_name that the dashboard shows and its region ID in location. Keep the ID of the one you want by its region ID, such as eu-frankfurt-1 for Frankfurt, Germany. Locations lists them all:
CLI: sevalla resources clusters. MCP: get_platform_options.
2

Create the application

Create application (createApplicationV3) creates the application with a web process. It builds with Ingot (build_type is ingot) and isn’t deployed yet:
CLI: sevalla apps create --name storefront --cluster $CLUSTER_ID --source privateGit --git-type github --repository https://github.com/acme/storefront --branch main. MCP: create_application with deploy set to false.
3

Find the domain

List application domains (listApplicationDomainsV3) returns the domain that Sevalla gives the application. It appears a few seconds after the application is created, so ask until it’s there:
CLI: sevalla apps domains list --app-id $APP_ID. MCP: get_application.
4

Add the secret key

Create environment variable (createEnvironmentVariableV3) adds a new SECRET_KEY_BASE, available at runtime only. openssl rand -base64 48 prints 64 random characters:
CLI: sevalla apps env-vars create $APP_ID --key SECRET_KEY_BASE --value "$(openssl rand -base64 48)", which makes the variable available during the build too. MCP: set_environment_variables with buildtime set to false.
5

Find the web process

List processes (listProcessesV3) returns the web process that the application was created with:
CLI: sevalla apps processes list --app-id $APP_ID. MCP: get_application.
6

Find the H1 size

List process resource types (listProcessResourceTypesV3) returns the sizes by name, in lowercase:
CLI: sevalla resources process-types. MCP: get_platform_options.
7

Set the size and the readiness probe

The API creates the web process at S1, where the dashboard’s default is H1. Update process (updateProcessV3) sets the size and adds the readiness probe from Add a health check, with the dashboard’s default timings. Send timeoutSeconds: a probe without it gets 120 seconds, where the dashboard sets 1.
CLI: sevalla apps processes update $WEB_ID --app-id $APP_ID --resource-type $H1_ID sets the size; the CLI can’t set probes. MCP: scale_process with size_id for the size, and sevalla_api_update with updateProcessV3 and the same body for the probe.
8

Turn on auto-deploy

Update application (updateApplicationV3) turns on automatic deployments for every push to the branch:
CLI: sevalla apps update $APP_ID --data '{"auto_deploy":true}'. MCP: sevalla_api_update with updateApplicationV3.
9

Deploy

Trigger deployment (triggerDeploymentV3) deploys the latest commit on the branch:
CLI: sevalla apps deployments trigger $APP_ID --branch main. MCP: trigger_deployment.
10

Wait for the deployment

Get deployment (getDeploymentV3) returns the deployment’s status: waiting and inProgress while it runs, then success, failed, cancelled or skipped. Poll it until the status is final, for up to 30 minutes:
CLI: sevalla apps deployments get $DEPLOYMENT_ID --app-id $APP_ID. MCP: get_deployment.
11

Read the build log

Get application deployment logs (getApplicationDeploymentLogsV3) returns the build log, oldest line first: the build plan from Verify the deployment, the build and the rollout. When the status is failed, the last lines say why.
CLI: sevalla apps deployments logs $DEPLOYMENT_ID --app-id $APP_ID. MCP: get_deployment_logs.
12

Check the application

Request the products from the application’s domain:
Then run the other checks in Verify the deployment.