Migrate from a Bare VPS

Running your app by hand on a VPS — nginx, systemd or pm2, manual git pull,
certbot renewals? Wokku keeps the control of your own server but replaces all
the glue with git push.

What Wokku replaces

On your VPS today	On Wokku
`systemd` unit / `pm2` process	A `web` process from your `Procfile`
nginx reverse proxy	Built-in routing to your app
certbot + cron renewal	Automatic SSL (SSL)
`git pull` + restart script	`git push` (build + release + restart)
Manually installed runtime	Buildpack (auto) or your `Dockerfile`
`crontab`	Scheduled Tasks
`.env` file on the box	Config vars (config)
`apt install postgresql`	Postgres add-on (guide)

1. Make the app buildpack- or Docker-ready

If it’s a standard stack, add a Procfile and let the buildpack detect it —
see your framework guide.
If it has unusual system dependencies, commit a Dockerfile —
see Deploy with a Dockerfile.

Make sure the app listens on $PORT instead of a fixed port behind nginx.

2. Move your environment

Copy values from your server’s .env (or systemd Environment= lines) into
config vars.

3. Move the database

If Postgres runs on the VPS:

bash

# on the VPS (or over SSH)
pg_dump "postgres://user:pass@localhost/dbname" --no-owner --no-acl -Fc -f dump.bin

# create Wokku Postgres + restore
wokku addons:create postgres my-app
wokku config my-app | grep DATABASE_URL
pg_restore --no-owner --no-acl -d "$WOKKU_DATABASE_URL" dump.bin

Move uploaded files to object storage — Wokku containers have an ephemeral disk.

4. Deploy

bash

wokku apps:create my-app --server my-server
git remote add wokku git@git.wokku.cloud:my-app
git push wokku main

5. Cut over DNS

Add your domain on Wokku (SSL provisions automatically), verify on
my-app.wokku.app, then point your DNS at Wokku and decommission the old box
once traffic has moved. See Custom Domains.

Gotchas

Local file writes — anything you wrote to disk (uploads, SQLite) must move to a DB or object storage.
Background jobs from cron — convert to a worker process or Scheduled Tasks.
Hardcoded ports/paths — bind to $PORT; don’t assume nginx is in front.

Next steps

Deploy with a Dockerfile · Production Readiness

# Migrate from a Bare VPS