Quickstart

Assumes you’ve installed outpost on your host and can ssh -A dev-box.

1. Set up your projects directory

Your project configs live in your own directory and git repo (default ~/outpost-projects), separate from the tool:

outpost projects init --remote [email protected]:you/outpost-projects.git

This creates the dir, runs git init, sets the remote, and drops a starter example project. (--remote is optional — add one later or never.)

2. Create a project

outpost projects new web -t node     # scaffold web/ from the node template
outpost projects edit web            # tweak the Dockerfile (EXPOSE ports, extra packages)

A project is just a directory with a Dockerfile (FROM outpost-base:latest) and optional tunnels.json, compose.yaml, ports.pin. Templates: flutter, go, minimal, node, python, rust, static (outpost projects templates).

3. Build the base image (once)

outpost base                         # builds outpost-base: your tools + default dotfiles

4. Set up and enter the project

outpost setup web                    # build the image, start an EMPTY-workspace container
outpost sh web                       # drop into a tmux session inside the container

outpost clones nothing — inside the box you do the rest:

git clone <your repo> /workspace && cd /workspace
fnm install && fnm use               # Node from your repo's .node-version
pnpm install && pnpm dev

5. Reach your dev server

outpost ports web                    # prints the host port + a ready-to-paste ssh -L
# from your laptop:
ssh -A -L 3000:localhost:49xxx dev-box   # then open http://localhost:3000

6. Back up your configs

outpost projects sync                # pull --rebase, commit (auto message), push

The everyday loop after that

ssh -A dev-box
outpost sh web        # reattach the same tmux session (agents still running)
# … work …
outpost update web    # rebuild on the latest base, keep your volumes

More: the daily loop, services, tunnels, git & ssh.