← Back to home

What is uncloud?

uncloud is a lightweight clustering and container orchestration tool created by Pasha Sviderski that lets you deploy and manage web apps across cloud VMs and bare metal with minimal cluster management overhead. It bridges the gap between Docker simplicity and Kubernetes power, providing Docker simplicity with multi-machine power.

🎯 The Sweet Spot: Modern cloud platforms like Heroku offer amazing developer experiences but at premium prices. Kubernetes provides power but requires significant expertise. uncloud finds the pragmatic middle ground - own your infrastructure, stay simple as you grow, build with proven primitives.

⚠️ Development Status: uncloud is currently in active development and is not ready for production use. Features may change significantly between releases. Perfect for experimentation and learning!

            🚀 Why Latest Versions Matter: uncloud is rapidly evolving with frequent releases containing new orchestration features, performance improvements, and enhanced multi-machine capabilities. The latest versions include better WireGuard mesh networking, improved service discovery, and enhanced Docker Compose compatibility.
        

⚡ Key Features of uncloud

🌐 Multi-Machine Deployment

Deploy across cloud VMs, dedicated servers, and bare metal. Combine different providers into unified computing environment.

🐳 Docker Compose Compatible

Use familiar Docker Compose format for defining services. No need to learn new configuration languages or complex YAML.

🔒 Zero-Config Private Network

Automatic WireGuard mesh with peer discovery and NAT traversal. Containers get unique IPs for direct cross-machine communication.

🎯 No Control Plane

Fully decentralized design eliminates single points of failure. Each machine maintains synchronized cluster state through peer-to-peer communication.

🔍 Service Discovery

Built-in DNS server resolves service names to container IPs. Automatic load balancing and ingress with HTTPS via Caddy.

📦 Persistent Storage

Run stateful services with Docker volumes managed across machines. Data persistence without complex storage orchestration.

🆕 What's New in uncloud 0.11.0+

Enhanced WireGuard Mesh: Improved peer discovery and connection reliability
Better Service Discovery: Enhanced DNS resolution and load balancing
Improved CLI: Better command structure and user experience
Enhanced Networking: More robust cross-machine container communication
Performance Optimizations: Faster deployment and state synchronization
Documentation: Comprehensive guides and examples

📦 Installation from debian.griffo.io

Step 1: Add Repository

curl -sS https://debian.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/debian.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb https://debian.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.griffo.io.list
sudo apt update
                

curl -sS https://debian.griffo.io/EA0F721D231FDD3A0A17B9AC7808B4DD62C41256.asc | gpg --dearmor --yes -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/debian.griffo.io.gpg
echo "deb https://debian.griffo.io/apt $(lsb_release -sc 2>/dev/null) main" | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.griffo.io.list
apt update
                

Step 2: Install uncloud

# Install latest uncloud
sudo apt install uncloud

# Verify installation
uc --version
                

# Install latest uncloud
apt install uncloud

# Verify installation
uc --version
                

🎯 Basic Usage Examples

Initialize your first cluster:

# Initialize cluster on first machine
uc machine init root@your-server-ip

# Add more machines to cluster
uc machine add --name server2 root@second-server-ip

# List cluster machines
uc machine ls
        

Deploy applications:

# Deploy from Docker image with HTTPS
uc run -p app.example.com:8000/https image/my-app

# Deploy from Docker Compose file
uc compose up -f compose.yaml

# Scale service across machines
uc scale my-app 3

# List running services
uc ls
        

Manage deployments:

# Update service with new image
uc update my-app image/my-app:v2

# View service logs
uc logs my-app

# Remove service
uc rm my-app

# Clean up cluster
uc machine rm server2
        

🚀 Why Choose debian.griffo.io?

📊 Installation Comparison:

Official Debian: Not available in official repositories
Install Script: Manual updates and dependency management
Manual Binary: No package management or automatic updates
debian.griffo.io: Latest version (0.11.0+) with automatic updates

✅ Latest Features: Get newest orchestration and networking improvements
✅ No Manual Setup: Pre-built binaries with all dependencies
✅ Automatic Updates: Packages updated within hours of upstream releases
✅ Complete Package: Includes all required components and scripts
✅ Multi-Distribution: Works on Bookworm, Trixie, and Sid
✅ Easy Maintenance: Standard apt commands for updates

📦 Package Build Repository

The Debian packages are automatically built and maintained in this GitHub repository:

🌬️ uncloud-debian - Latest release builds

🔗 Related Packages

Also available from debian.griffo.io:

unregistry - Direct Docker image transfer (same author)
lazydocker - Terminal UI for Docker management
fzf Fuzzy Finder - Enhanced command searching

            🎯 Perfect for: Developers who want multi-machine deployment without Kubernetes complexity, teams needing simple container orchestration, homelab enthusiasts, and anyone seeking the sweet spot between Docker and Kubernetes.
        

☁️ Install Latest uncloud on Debian