Deployment

EdgeBase supports three deployment modes. The same code runs identically in all environments.

Cloud Edge

Global serverless deployment on 330+ edge locations.

npx edgebase deploy

On first deploy, EdgeBase automatically handles Cloudflare authentication:

1. Checks if you're logged in via wrangler whoami
2. Opens browser login if needed (no manual wrangler login required)
3. Detects your account ID and configures wrangler.toml automatically

Feature	Detail
Cold start	~0ms
Scaling	Automatic, global
Cost	$5/month base
Storage egress	$0
Backup	30-day PITR

Requirements: Cloudflare account with Workers Paid plan ($5/month, account-level — covers all projects).

CI/CD

For non-interactive environments, set CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN as an environment variable instead.

Docker

Container-based self-hosting. Runs the same runtime as edge deployment — identical behavior, full data sovereignty.

npx edgebase docker build
npx edgebase docker run

docker run automatically creates .env.release with secure random JWT secrets if the file doesn't exist yet. To customize secrets or use an existing file:

npx edgebase docker run --env-file .env.release

.env.release Reference

Variable	Required	Description
JWT_USER_SECRET	Yes	Signs user authentication tokens (auto-generated)
JWT_ADMIN_SECRET	Yes	Signs admin dashboard tokens (auto-generated)
SERVICE_KEY	Optional	Server-side API key for Admin SDKs
DB_POSTGRES_*_URL	Optional	PostgreSQL connection string (used by DB blocks or auth configured with provider: 'postgres'; legacy provider: 'neon' configs still work)

tip

JWT_USER_SECRET and JWT_ADMIN_SECRET are auto-generated when you first run npx edgebase docker run. You only need to set them manually if you want to keep existing tokens valid across re-deployments.

Or run the equivalent container command yourself:

docker run -v edgebase-data:/data -p 8787:8787 --env-file .env.release edgebase

Or with Docker Compose:

version: '3.8'
services:
  edgebase:
    image: edgebase
    ports:
      - '8787:8787'
    volumes:
      - edgebase-data:/data
    environment:
      - JWT_USER_SECRET=your-secret-key
      - JWT_ADMIN_SECRET=your-admin-secret-key
      - SERVICE_KEY=your-service-key
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD', 'wget', '-q', '--spider', 'http://localhost:8787/api/health']
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3

volumes:
  edgebase-data:

The same SERVICE_KEY is what all Admin SDKs use for server-side access.

Feature	Detail
Cold start	N/A (always running)
Scaling	Manual (container orchestration)
Cost	VPS cost only (~$5–20/month)
Data	Local SQLite files in Docker volume

Requirements: Docker installed.

Direct Run

Run directly with Node.js — no Docker, no cloud account needed.

npx edgebase dev

Feature	Detail
Best for	Development, testing, lightweight production
Data	Local filesystem
Requirements	Node.js 20.19+ (24.x recommended)

Comparison

	Edge	Docker	Direct
Command	npx edgebase deploy	npx edgebase docker run	npx edgebase dev
Requires	Cloudflare account	Docker	Node.js only
Scaling	Auto global	Manual	Single instance
Best for	Production	Self-hosted prod	Dev / lightweight
Cost	~$5–30/month	VPS cost	Free

Environment Variables

EdgeBase uses separate files for development and production secrets:

File	Purpose	Used by
.env.development	Local dev secrets	npx edgebase dev
.env.release	Production secrets	npx edgebase deploy

Edge (Cloudflare Workers)

The simplest approach — put your production secrets in .env.release and deploy:

# Copy the example template and fill in your production keys
cp .env.release.example .env.release

# Deploy — secrets are auto-uploaded to Cloudflare
npx edgebase deploy

Or set secrets manually one at a time:

npx edgebase secret set JWT_USER_SECRET
npx edgebase secret set JWT_ADMIN_SECRET

info

SERVICE_KEY is auto-generated on first deploy — you don't need to set it manually.

Docker / Direct

# Use the env file directly
npx edgebase docker run --env-file .env.release

# Or pass variables inline
JWT_USER_SECRET=your-secret npx edgebase dev