The complete platform for Sails.js — deploy, manage, monitor, and debug your apps on your own infrastructure.

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What is Slipway?

Slipway is an open-source, self-hosted platform purpose-built for Sails.js and The Boring JavaScript Stack applications. One command to install, one command to deploy.

• One-command deploys — slipway slide packages, pushes, and deploys your app with zero-downtime blue-green deployments
• Self-hosted — Runs on any Linux VPS you control. Your code, your data, your servers
• Sails-native — Understands your models, helpers, hooks, and config out of the box
• Automatic HTTPS — SSL certificates provisioned automatically via Caddy
• Database management — Provision PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Redis with one click. Connection URLs auto-injected
• Built-in platform — Helm (production REPL), Bridge (data management), Dock (SQL console), Quest (job scheduler), Content (CMS)
• Backups — Database backups to S3-compatible storage with one-click restore
• Team collaboration — Multi-user access with team management

Quick Start

Install on your server

SSH into your VPS and run:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sailscastshq/slipway/main/install.sh | bash

This installs two containers (Slipway + Caddy proxy) and gives you a dashboard URL.

Run Slipway locally like production

When you want a local run that mirrors the production installer more closely than host-side npm run dev, use:

npm run local

This runs local.sh, the local counterpart to install.sh. It:

• builds the current checkout into a local Docker image
• creates or reuses the slipway Docker network
• persists local secrets under .tmp/local/.env
• persists local app source and SQLite data under .tmp/local/
• installs container dependencies into Docker volumes
• runs Slipway in Docker with npm run dev
• waits for /health before returning control

That means you still get the normal Slipway development loop, but through a runtime that is much closer to production:

• Docker-only runtime issues show up earlier
• asset/compiler problems are caught before a production deploy
• /var/slipway/apps, Docker socket access, and SQLite files behave like the real container setup
• the startup flow mirrors the structure of install.sh

Helpful companion commands:

npm run local:logs
npm run local:status
npm run local:shell
npm run local:stop
npm run local:down
npm run local:destroy

Local Docker data is kept under .tmp/local/, and container dependencies are cached in Docker volumes so reruns stay fast.

Command semantics:

• npm run local:stop stops the running container but keeps it for restart/debugging
• npm run local:down removes the local container
• npm run local:destroy removes the local container, cached Docker volumes, and .tmp/local/ state for a full reset

Deploy your app

# Install the CLI
npm install -g slipway-cli

# Login to your Slipway instance
slipway login --server https://slipway.yourdomain.com

# Initialize your project
cd my-sails-app
slipway init

# Deploy
slipway slide

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    YOUR VPS                       │
│                                                   │
│  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │          SLIPWAY (Sails.js + Vue)          │   │
│  │  Dashboard · API · Deploy Engine · Platform │   │
│  └────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘   │
│                       │                           │
│  ┌────────────────────┴───────────────────────┐   │
│  │            Docker + Caddy Proxy            │   │
│  │  ┌──────┐ ┌──────┐ ┌───────┐ ┌─────────┐  │   │
│  │  │ app  │ │ app  │ │ redis │ │postgres │  │   │
│  │  └──────┘ └──────┘ └───────┘ └─────────┘  │   │
│  └────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key technology choices:

Component	Choice	Why
App framework	Sails.js + Vue 3 + Inertia.js	Dogfooding the stack
Database	SQLite	Zero-config, single-file backup
Proxy	Caddy	Automatic HTTPS, Docker-native routing
Containers	Docker	Universal runtime, no vendor lock-in
Security	execFile() everywhere	No shell injection possible

The Platform

Slipway includes integrated tools that work with your deployed Sails apps:

Tool	What it does
Helm	Production REPL — query models, run helpers, inspect config from the browser
Bridge	Auto-generated data management UI from your Waterline models
Dock	SQL console, schema diff, and migration tool for your databases
Quest	Job scheduler dashboard for sails-hook-quest
Content	CMS for sails-content markdown files
Lookout	Infrastructure monitoring via sails-hook-slipway telemetry

Requirements

• A Linux VPS with 1GB+ RAM (we recommend Hetzner Cloud)
• Docker (auto-installed by the install script)
• Node.js 22+ on your local machine (for the CLI)

Documentation

Full documentation at docs.sailscasts.com/slipway

Packages

This repo is a monorepo containing:

Package	Description
packages/cli	Zero-dependency CLI (slipway-cli on npm)
packages/hook	Auto-instrumentation hook for deployed apps (sails-hook-slipway on npm)

Community

• Discord — Chat with other developers
• GitHub Issues — Report bugs and request features
• YouTube — Tutorials and updates

License

Slipway is open-source software licensed under the MIT license.