Dockup agent

Connects a server you own to your Dockup account, so it appears there as one of your own nodes and you can deploy to it.

Install

From the Dockup dashboard: Own servers → Add server. You get a pairing code and one command:

curl -fsSL https://api.dockup.ai/api/agent/install.sh | sudo sh -s -- <pairing-code>

That installs this package, pairs it, and runs it under systemd. Read the script before you run it — it is served in plain text at the URL above.

What it does

Polls Dockup for work, runs it with Docker, reports the result. Deployments, databases, containers, logs, domains.

What it needs

• Root, because it manages Docker
• Docker, and Node 20 or newer
• Outbound HTTPS to Dockup

What it does not do

• Opens no ports. Every connection is outbound. It adds no attack surface reachable from the network.
• Talks only to Dockup, over HTTPS. It refuses to start against a plaintext control plane on any host but localhost — the agent token and every deploy secret cross that connection.
• Runs no command through a shell. Everything from a Dockup payload is passed as an argument vector, so a value cannot become a command.

Configuration

/opt/dockup-agent/.env, written by the installer and readable only by root:

CONTROL_PLANE_URL=https://api.dockup.ai
AGENT_TOKEN=agent_…

The token is the node. Anyone holding it can act as this server.

Operating it

journalctl -u dockup-agent -f          # logs
systemctl restart dockup-agent          # restart
systemctl disable --now dockup-agent    # stop and disable
rm -rf /opt/dockup-agent                # remove

Removing the agent leaves the containers it created running. Delete the node in the dashboard first if you want them cleaned up.