Deploy on Render.com (Full Guide)

Render.com is one of the fastest and most cost-effective cloud platforms for hosting EasyEA directly from the official Docker image (ghcr.io/lhackyup/easy-ea:latest) without managing servers.

This guide walks you through automated deployment via Blueprint (render.yaml), manual setup via the Render dashboard, and connecting a free permanent PostgreSQL database (such as Neon.tech or Supabase).

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1. Automated Deployment with Blueprint (render.yaml)

Download the official render.yaml file and commit it to a GitHub repository to deploy the entire stack in one click:

services:
  - type: web
    name: easyea-app
    runtime: image
    image:
      url: ghcr.io/lhackyup/easy-ea:latest
    plan: free
    region: frankfurt
    envVars:
      - key: PORT
        value: 8000
      - key: EASYEA_ENV
        value: production
      - key: EASYEA_SECRET_KEY
        generateValue: true
      - key: EASYEA_SEED_DEMO_USERS
        value: "false"
      - key: EASYEA_RBAC_MODE
        value: hybrid
      - key: DATABASE_URL
        fromDatabase:
          name: easyea-postgres
          property: connectionString

databases:
  - name: easyea-postgres
    databaseName: easyea_db
    user: easyea_user
    plan: free
    region: frankfurt

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2. Manual Setup via Render Dashboard

1. Create a PostgreSQL Database:
   • In the Render Dashboard, click New + ➔ PostgreSQL (easyea-postgres, region Frankfurt).
   • Copy the Internal Database URL.
2. Create the EasyEA Web Service:
   • Click New + ➔ Web Service ➔ Deploy an existing image from a registry.
   • Enter the image URL: ghcr.io/lhackyup/easy-ea:latest.
3. Configure Environment Variables:

Variable	Recommended Value	Description
PORT	8000	Internal port exposed by Uvicorn/FastAPI.
DATABASE_URL	postgresql://...	Connection string from PostgreSQL.
EASYEA_ENV	production	Enables production security settings.
EASYEA_SECRET_KEY	(Random 32+ char string)	Secret key used to sign JWT tokens.
EASYEA_RBAC_MODE	hybrid (or strict)	hybrid allows read-only browsing and requires auth for edits; strict enforces auth on all routes.
EASYEA_SEED_DEMO_USERS	false	Set to true only if you want demo accounts seeded on first boot.

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3. Free Permanent Persistence with Neon.tech or Supabase

Render Free PostgreSQL 30-Day Expiration

Render’s internal Free PostgreSQL database expires after 30 days unless upgraded to a paid tier.

To run a 100% free, non-expiring EasyEA instance:

1. Create a free PostgreSQL database on Neon.tech (AWS Europe Frankfurt region) or Supabase.
2. Copy the PostgreSQL connection string (ending with ?sslmode=require):

   postgresql://<user>:<password>@ep-xyz.eu-central-1.aws.neon.tech/neondb?sslmode=require

3. In the Render dashboard for easyea-app ➔ Environment, replace DATABASE_URL with your Neon.tech connection string and save.