caprover-management_skill

Overview

This skill manages CapRover PaaS instances via the CapRover REST API. It lets you create and update apps, deploy from Docker images or host-built Dockerfiles, configure ports, volumes, and environment variables, and read build/runtime logs. Use it to automate deployments, configure Docker Swarm overrides, and diagnose runtime issues on CapRover hosts.

How this skill works

The skill authenticates to a CapRover captain and calls its API endpoints to perform lifecycle actions: register apps, update app definitions, push source archives for on-host builds, trigger redeploys, and fetch logs. It supports sending multipart uploads for building images from a tarred Dockerfile, applying serviceUpdateOverride JSON for advanced Swarm settings, and reading build and runtime log streams. It also includes patterns for handling self-signed certificates and architecture-specific workflows (ARM64).

When to use it

• Deploy or redeploy an app from a Docker image or a Dockerfile built on the CapRover host
• Add persistent volumes, mount host-named Docker volumes, or configure non-HTTP TCP ports (game servers, databases)
• Set advanced Docker Swarm options not exposed in the UI using serviceUpdateOverride
• Diagnose container crashes, missing logs, port binding issues, or architecture mismatches on CapRover hosts
• Automate multi-app setup and environment variable management via the API

Best practices

• Always authenticate and reuse the x-captain-auth token for API calls; handle self-signed certs on private hosts
• Build images on the CapRover host for ARM64 machines instead of pushing amd64 images
• Set ports at app creation where possible to avoid a known port-update 500 error; use serviceUpdateOverride as a reliable alternative
• Keep serviceUpdateOverride content explicit; setting it to an empty string clears all overrides including mounts
• Stream and inspect both build and runtime logs to differentiate build failures from runtime crashes

Example use cases

• Register a new app and give it a persistent volume for stateful services
• Upload a .tar.gz containing captain-definition and Dockerfile to build a native ARM64 image on the host
• Expose a TCP game server by configuring hostPort→containerPort and verifying the app binds to 0.0.0.0
• Apply serviceUpdateOverride to attach named Docker volumes, set resource limits, or adjust DNS options for a service
• Fetch build logs to debug Dockerfile failures, then fetch runtime logs to diagnose crashes or entrypoint issues