Stackform Documentation

The Visual Stack Builder is the core workspace where you compose Docker applications visually without writing YAML syntax manually.

How to Use:

1. Add Services: Click + Add service to open the catalog. Filter by category (Frontend, Backend, Database, Cache, Messaging, Proxy, Storage, Monitoring, Utilities) and select a container.
2. Configure Containers: Double-click any service card or click Configure to open the Configuration Drawer. Here you can edit:
   • Container Name, Base Image, Image Tag, Restart Policy.
   • Host & Container Port Mappings (e.g. 8080:8080).
   • Persistent Named Volumes and Host Bind Mounts.
   • Environment Variables (automatically written to .env.example).
   • Inter-container Dependencies (depends_on with service_healthy conditions).
   • Healthcheck commands, CPU/Memory Resource Limits, and Working Directories.
3. Reorder Services: Click and drag the grip handles on any service card to reorder them on the grid.
4. Inspect Generated Code: As you make changes, the output panel updates in real time to generate:
   • Dockerfile (Language-optimized multi-stage build with non-root user).
   • docker-compose.yml (Production-hardened with cap_drop: ALL and logging limits).
   • .dockerignore, .env.example, and a complete README.md.
5. Export Stack: Click Copy, Download, or ZIP to download the full infrastructure package.

The AI Stack Architect translates plain English descriptions into a full, multi-tier microservices architecture, calculates estimated monthly AWS costs, and prepares code manifests in a single step.

Supported AI Models:

How to Use:

1. Select your preferred model from the dropdown (or leave as Auto to use whichever API key is saved).
2. Type a prompt describing your app, or click one of the prebuilt quick suggestions (e.g. "Serverless AI SaaS with FastAPI, Postgres, Redis, and Nginx").
3. Click Generate. A 4-step progress animation will analyze requirements, select microservices, build manifests, and calculate AWS costs.
4. Review the unified output dashboard containing the AI Rationale, AWS Monthly Cost Estimate, Interactive Cards, and Code Viewer.
5. Click Save Project, Download ZIP, or Open in Architecture Designer to continue.

Have an existing project with a complex docker-compose.yml? The Reverse Converter parses raw YAML syntax, extracts all containers, port mappings, volumes, environment variables, and dependencies, and maps them onto Stackform's visual engine.

How to Use:

1. Paste your raw YAML into the text box, drag & drop a .yml file, or click one of the sample presets (WordPress, MERN, FastAPI + PG).
2. Click Convert Stack. Stackform parses the file and extracts all services into visual cards.
3. Choose an action:
   • Open in Stack Builder — Edit container settings on the main canvas (`/dashboard`).
   • Estimate AWS Cost — View real-time monthly AWS pricing for the imported stack (`/test`).
   • 1-Click VPS Deploy — Generate an automated bash installer script for your VPS (`/auto-deploy`).
   • System Architecture — View the auto-generated architecture diagram with directional protocol arrows (`/architecture`).

Know your cloud infrastructure costs before deploying to AWS. The AWS Cost Estimator inspects your architecture diagram components and calculates real-time monthly and annual cost estimates based on US-East-1 baseline rates across 40+ AWS services.

Key Features:

• Real-Time Live Cost Badge: Displays updated monthly total at the top right as you drag or add components.
• Itemized Breakdown Table: Detailed breakdown of every component, quantity, baseline unit price, and total monthly/annual cost.
• AWS Cost Optimization Recommendations: Automatically alerts you to cost-reduction opportunities (Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, NAT Gateway consolidation, S3 lifecycle policies).

Deploy your generated stacks to any fresh Linux VPS (DigitalOcean, Hetzner, AWS EC2, Linode, Vultr) using a single, secure terminal command.

Security & Automated Production Steps:

• Cryptographic HMAC Token: Every deployment URL is signed with HMAC-SHA256 from your server's secret, preventing unauthorized access to your .env variables.
• Installs Docker & Docker Compose V2: Auto-detects Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS and provisions Docker Engine if missing.
• Hardens Environment Files: Sets chmod 600 .env so passwords are restricted to root.
• Configures UFW Firewall: Automatically opens SSH (22), HTTP (80), HTTPS (443), and custom application ports.
• Generates Build Context Subdirectories: Automatically creates build folders, writes Dockerfile, and places starter code (main.py, package.json, main.go) for buildable containers.
• Registers Systemd Reboot Unit: Creates /etc/systemd/system/app.service so containers automatically restart if the VPS reboots.

How to Deploy:

1. Select a saved project from the dropdown.
2. Click Copy Command.
3. SSH into your fresh Linux VPS (ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP) and paste the command:
   curl -sSL "https://your-domain.com/api/auto-deploy/sh/8?token=..." | sudo bash

A standalone diagramming tool for system design sketches, client presentations, and documentation.

Features:

• Comprehensive Cloud Catalog: Generic, AWS, Azure, and GCP component palettes.
• From a Stack Auto-Layout: Converts any saved container project into an architecture diagram, placing services in tiers and drawing protocol-labeled connections (SQL, Redis, AMQP, S3, HTTP, metrics).
• Auto-Arrange: Automatically re-lays-out nodes by tier with zero overlaps in vertical or horizontal orientation.
• High-DPI Export: Export diagrams as standalone SVG or crisp 2x PNG images.

Package your entire stack into a standard Helm 3 Chart file tree. Generates Chart.yaml, values.yaml, templates/deployment.yaml, templates/service.yaml, and templates/NOTES.txt.

How to Use:

1. Select a saved project from the dropdown.
2. Review the generated values.yaml (replica counts, image repositories, resource limits, environment variables).
3. Click Copy Command to copy the installation command (helm install my-release ./chart-name).
4. Click Download Helm Chart (.ZIP) to download the complete chart package.

Export your architecture diagrams into clean Mermaid.js flowcharts or PlantUML component diagrams for GitHub READMEs, Notion, and Markdown docs, complete with a live rendered diagram preview.

How to Use:

1. Select a project from the dropdown.
2. Inspect the live rendered Mermaid diagram at the top.
3. Toggle between Mermaid.js Syntax and PlantUML Syntax tabs.
4. Click Copy Syntax or Download File (.mmd / .puml).

The Security Scanner performs deep static analysis on your container configuration and scores your stack across 4 core dimensions:

It flags critical vulnerabilities including placeholder passwords (changeme), unpinned image tags (latest), public exposure of database ports (5432, 6379, 9092), Docker socket mounts, and missing resource limits.

Manage your API keys securely. Secrets are encrypted at rest in SQLite using Fernet (AES-128-CBC + HMAC-SHA256) derived from the server's session secret.

Supported Secret Keys: