Using the Hylius Dashboard

The Hylius Dashboard is a web-based control panel for managing your servers, projects, deployments, and environment variables — all in one place. It complements the CLI by providing a visual interface for the same workflows.

Overview

After signing up and logging in, you'll land on the Dashboard page. From here you can:

Connect VPS servers to Hylius

Add projects (manually or imported from GitHub)

Provision servers with Docker in one click

Trigger deployments and watch live logs in a terminal

Manage environment variables, domains, and databases

View deployment history with status, commit hash, and duration

The sidebar navigation includes:

Section	Description
Dashboard	Your servers and projects overview
Templates	1-click deploy starter kits (Next.js, Laravel, etc.)
Marketplace	Install platform-level addons like Analytics and Error Tracking
Traffic Analytics	View visitor stats and pageviews across your domains
Error Tracking	View and debug runtime exceptions in your deployed apps
Deployments	Trigger deploys, view live logs, and browse history
Billing	Manage your plan, payment methods, and invoices

1. Connecting a Server

Before you can deploy anything, connect your VPS to Hylius.

Step 1 — Click "Add Server"

From the Dashboard, click the + Add Server button in the top-right corner.

Step 2 — Fill in server details

The Connect New Server modal will ask for:

Field	Description	Example
Server Name	A friendly label for this VPS	`My Production VPS`
IP Address	The public IP of your server	`203.0.113.42`
Port	SSH port (usually 22)	`22`
Username	SSH user	`root`
Private Key / Password	SSH credentials used once to provision the server and install the agent	`-----BEGIN OPENSSH...`

Click Connect Server and Hylius will verify the connection.

Step 3 — Provision the server

Once connected, click the Provision button on the server card. The dashboard will connect via SSH to install Docker, Railpack, and start the Hylius Agent background service (hylius-agent). All future deployments and metric monitoring will securely route through this WebSocket agent rather than SSH.

Alternative: Manual Agent Installation If you prefer not to provide SSH credentials to the Dashboard, you can manually run the agent installation command provided in the server details page on your VPS:

bashcurl -sSL https://github.com/Hylius-org/hylius-agent/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash -s -- --token <YOUR_TOKEN> --server-url <DASHBOARD_URL> --server-id <ID>

You only need to provision once per server.

2. Adding a Project

Each project represents one application deployed to one server. You can add projects manually, import them directly from GitHub, or use a 1-click Template.

Manual Mode

Click + Project on any server card, then fill in:

Field	Description	Required
Project Name	Name for this project	✅
Repository URL	Git clone URL	✅
Branch	Git branch to deploy	No (defaults to `main`)
Deploy Path	Path on the VPS where the app lives	✅
Build Command	Custom build command	No
Start Command	Custom start command	No

Import from GitHub

Click the Import from GitHub tab to connect your GitHub account via the Hylius GitHub App. Once installed, you'll see a searchable list of your repositories.

Select a repo and Hylius will auto-fill:

Project name (from the repo name)

Repository URL (the git clone URL)

Branch (the default branch)

Deploy path (/var/www/<repo-name>)

Deploy from a Template

Click the Templates link in the sidebar to browse our collection of official starter kits. Templates allow you to spin up fully-configured applications with zero setup.

When you deploy a template (like "Laravel + Postgres" or "Next.js + Redis"): 1. Hylius automatically clones the template repository. 2. It provisions the required Managed Databases (e.g., PostgreSQL) on your server. 3. It securely links the database to your new project and injects the necessary environment variables (DATABASE_URL, REDIS_URL, etc.). 4. It triggers an immediate deployment.

Deployment Strategy

When importing from GitHub, you can choose a deployment strategy:

Strategy	How it works
Build on Server (Auto-detect)	Clones the repo on your VPS and builds with Docker Compose, Dockerfile, or Railpack
Build on Server (Docker Compose)	Uses `docker compose up -d --build` on the server
Build with Dagger (Recommended)	Builds on GitHub Actions via Dagger, pushes to GHCR, and deploys to your VPS with zero CPU load
Build on GitHub Actions (Native Docker)	Builds a Docker image on GitHub Actions and pushes to GHCR
Build on GitHub Actions (Docker Compose)	Same as above but uses Docker Compose

For the Dagger and GitHub Actions strategies, Hylius will automatically: 1. Generate a deployment API token 2. Open a Pull Request in your GitHub repo with the CI/CD workflow files 3. Provide you with the HYLIUS_WEBHOOK_URL and HYLIUS_API_TOKEN to add as GitHub Secrets

3. Deploying from the Dashboard

One-Click Deploy

Navigate to the Deployments page from the sidebar. You'll see:

1. A project selector dropdown at the top 2. A Deploy Now button 3. A Live Console terminal 4. A Deployment History sidebar

Select a project and click Deploy Now. The live console will stream real-time build and deploy logs — just like running hylius deploy in your terminal, but from your browser.

Automatic Deploys (CI/CD)

If you set up a GitHub-integrated deployment strategy (Dagger, GHCR, or Compose Registry), every push to your main branch will:

1. Trigger a build on GitHub Actions 2. Push the Docker image to GitHub Container Registry (GHCR) 3. Send a webhook to the Hylius Dashboard 4. The Dashboard pulls the new image onto your VPS and performs an atomic zero-downtime deploy

You can watch this happen in real-time on the Deployments page.

4. Server Details & Management

Click a server name (or View Details) on the Dashboard to access the server detail page. From here you can manage:

Projects

View all projects deployed to this server. Each project card shows:

Project name and status

Repository URL and branch

Last deployment info

Environment Variables

Click on a project to open the Environment Variables editor. You can:

Add, edit, and remove environment variables

Variables are securely stored in the Hylius database

For Dagger/GitHub Actions builds, env vars are fetched at build time via the /api/webhooks/env endpoint

Domains

Manage custom domains for your projects through the Domain Manager. Configure:

Custom domain names

SSL/TLS settings

Reverse proxy configuration

Databases

The Database Manager lets you provision and manage databases for your projects. You can deploy PostgreSQL or Redis with a single click.

Automatic Credential Injection: When you link a Managed Database to a project in the dashboard, Hylius automatically manages the networking. During deployment, the dashboard securely injects the DATABASE_URL (or REDIS_URL) and associated connection variables directly into your project's container environment. Your code will automatically connect to the database via internal Docker networking without any manual .env file configuration!

Monitoring & Metrics

The server detail page includes live charts for:

CPU usage

Memory usage

Disk usage

Network I/O

Container Logs

View real-time container logs from any running project using the built-in Project Logs Terminal. This streams docker logs output directly to your browser.

5. Marketplace & Observability

The Hylius Marketplace allows you to install platform-level tools directly onto your VPS to supercharge your hosted applications. Currently, you can install:

Traffic Analytics (Umami): A privacy-friendly alternative to Google Analytics.

Error Tracking (GlitchTip): A 100% Sentry API-compatible error monitoring platform.

How it Works

1. Navigate to the Marketplace in the sidebar. 2. Click Install on a feature. Hylius will provision the necessary containers (like Umami or GlitchTip) directly on your VPS. 3. Once installed, the feature is active for your server!

Zero-Config Integration

When you deploy an application to a server that has Marketplace features installed, Hylius automatically wires them up:

Traffic Analytics: Hylius automatically injects the Umami tracking script (<script defer ...>) into your project's HTML responses, and the traffic data immediately appears in your Analytics tab.

Error Tracking: Hylius automatically registers your project in the GlitchTip database, retrieves a unique Sentry DSN, and injects it into your project's runtime environment as SENTRY_DSN. Any runtime exceptions thrown by your app will seamlessly appear in your Errors tab.

The integration requires no personal access tokens — it uses the GitHub App's installation token, which is automatically managed.

6. GitHub Integration

Hylius integrates with GitHub via a GitHub App. This enables:

Repository import — browse and select repos directly from the dashboard

Automatic CI/CD — Hylius can open PRs with deployment workflows

Webhook-based deploys — GitHub Actions notifies Hylius when a build completes

Setting Up GitHub Integration

1. Go to the Add Project modal and select Import from GitHub 2. Click Connect GitHub — this redirects you to install the Hylius GitHub App 3. Authorize the app for your account/organization 4. Return to the dashboard and your repositories will appear

The integration requires no personal access tokens — it uses the GitHub App's installation token, which is automatically managed.

7. API Tokens

The Dashboard provides an API token system for authenticating CI/CD pipelines and webhooks:

Tokens are generated automatically when you select a Dagger or GHCR deployment strategy

You can also manually generate tokens from the dashboard

Tokens are used as the HYLIUS_API_TOKEN secret in GitHub Actions

Dashboard vs. CLI

Both tools manage the same infrastructure. Use whichever fits your workflow:

Feature	Dashboard	CLI
Add servers	✅ UI form	✅ `hylius setup`
Deploy apps	✅ One-click + live logs	✅ `hylius deploy`
GitHub import	✅ Built-in	❌
Env var management	✅ Visual editor	❌ (manual `.env` files)
Deployment history	✅ Visual timeline	❌
CI/CD workflow generation	✅ Auto-PR to GitHub	✅ `hylius ci-generate`
Server metrics	✅ CPU/RAM/Disk charts	❌
Container logs	✅ Live in browser	❌ (SSH manually)
Domain management	✅ Built-in	❌
Database management	✅ Built-in	❌

Next Steps

Getting Started with the CLI →

CI/CD & Automation →

Troubleshooting →