ɳCloud

Feature: ɳCloud

ɳCloud is the managed hosting service for ɳSelf. Instead of setting up your own server, you pay a monthly fee and get a dedicated Hetzner VPS with the full ɳSelf stack pre-installed, monitored, and maintained.

Status: Pricing page and provisioning flow implemented. Full managed service planned. Console: cloud.nself.org Architecture doc: .claude/docs/ncloud-architecture.md

How It Works

Sign up at cloud.nself.org.
Pick a server tier.
Pay via Stripe.
A dedicated Hetzner VPS is provisioned automatically (under 3 minutes).
You receive root SSH access, a Hasura console URL, a GraphQL endpoint, and an admin panel.
ɳSelf monitors the server. You build your app.

Every ɳCloud customer gets a dedicated server. There is no shared hosting, no noisy neighbors, no resource contention. Your data stays on your server.

Pricing

Pricing follows a transparent model: Hetzner’s cost plus a $2/month management fee. All servers are in Falkenstein, Germany (fsn1).

Tier	Hetzner Type	vCPU	RAM	Disk	Hetzner Cost	ɳCloud Price
Starter	CX23	2	4 GB	40 GB	~$4/mo	~$6/mo
Standard	CX33	4	8 GB	80 GB	~$7/mo	~$9/mo
Performance	CX43	8	16 GB	160 GB	~$14/mo	~$16/mo
ARM Starter	CAX11	2	4 GB	40 GB	~$4.50/mo	~$6.50/mo

Upgrades and downgrades happen any time via the Hetzner API. Resize takes under 5 minutes.

Plugin licenses are billed separately through the existing ɳSelf licensing system.

What’s Included

Every ɳCloud server comes with:

Full ɳSelf stack. PostgreSQL, Hasura GraphQL, Auth, Nginx with SSL.
Your plugin tier. Plugins matching your license key are pre-installed.
Server hardening. fail2ban, UFW, SSH key-only access, security headers.
Monitoring. Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, and the full monitoring bundle.
Automatic SSL. Let’s Encrypt certificates configured on provisioning.
Root SSH access. Full control over your server.
DNS subdomain. {username}.ncloud.nself.org configured automatically.

Cloud Console (cloud.nself.org)

The web console is a Next.js app in the web/ monorepo (web/cloud). It provides:

Feature	Description
Dashboard	Server status, resource usage (CPU, RAM, disk), uptime
Server management	Start, stop, restart, resize, rebuild
Plugin management	Install and remove plugins (delegates to ɳSelf CLI via SSH)
Logs	Real-time log streaming from your server
Backups	Schedule and restore from Hetzner snapshots
DNS	Add custom domains, auto-configure SSL
Billing	Current plan, usage history, invoices, upgrade/downgrade
License	Key display (masked), tier badge, Stripe customer portal

All management actions execute via SSH to your server. The console queues actions through a job system that connects to your VPS and runs ɳSelf CLI commands. No management agent runs on your server.

Provisioning

When a new server is ordered, a cloud-init script runs on first boot:

System updates and hardening (fail2ban, UFW, SSH key-only)
Install ɳSelf CLI (curl -fsSL install.nself.org | bash)
nself init --full with pre-configured environment
Install plugins matching the user’s license tier
nself build && nself start
Configure Nginx with SSL (Let’s Encrypt)
Report ready status to ping_api

Target: under 3 minutes from payment confirmation to a running stack.

Server Lifecycle

ncloud_servers table:
  user_id        → auth user
  hetzner_id     → Hetzner server ID
  ipv4           → server IP
  tier           → current Hetzner server type
  status         → provisioning | active | suspended | deleted
  plugins        → installed plugin list
  custom_domains → configured domains

Failed payment: 3-day grace period, then server suspended (not deleted).
Cancellation: 7-day grace period with data export option, then server deleted.
Disaster recovery: Server rebuild via POST /servers/{id}/actions/rebuild.

Monitoring Relay

Each ɳCloud server runs the ɳSelf monitoring bundle. A lightweight relay pushes key metrics to the central ɳSelf monitoring system:

Server health (CPU, RAM, disk, network)
Docker container status for all services
SSL certificate expiry warnings
Disk usage alerts

Alerts route to the ɳSelf ops channel and to the customer’s configured notification channels (email, Telegram, webhook).

Custom Domains

Users can map their own domains to their ɳCloud server:

Add domain in the cloud console.
Follow DNS instructions (A record pointing to server IP).
ɳSelf verifies DNS propagation.
The CLI on the server runs nself domain add {domain} to configure Nginx and Let’s Encrypt.

The default {username}.ncloud.nself.org subdomain is always available, managed via Cloudflare API.

Cloud Light (Planned)

A future lower-cost tier for users who do not need a dedicated server:

	ɳCloud	Cloud Light
Price	$6-16/mo	$1-2/mo
Server	Dedicated Hetzner VPS	Shared Docker host
Isolation	Full server isolation	Per-user schema + Docker namespace
SSH	Root access	No SSH
Plugins	All supported	Limited set
Best for	Production apps	Prototyping, small projects

Cloud Light uses per-user schema isolation in a shared PostgreSQL instance and subdomain routing to per-user Docker containers.

Security

Servers are hardened on provisioning: SSH key-only, fail2ban, UFW.
Root access is the customer’s responsibility after provisioning.
ɳSelf does not store customer SSH private keys.
Management SSH uses a deploy key pair (public key injected at provisioning).
All management actions are logged and auditable.
Each customer gets a dedicated VPS with no shared resources.

Hetzner API Operations

All server lifecycle operations use the Hetzner Cloud API:

Operation	API	When
Create	`POST /servers`	New customer signup
Delete	`DELETE /servers/{id}`	Account cancellation (after grace period)
Resize	`POST /servers/{id}/actions/change_type`	Tier change
Rebuild	`POST /servers/{id}/actions/rebuild`	Disaster recovery
Snapshot	`POST /servers/{id}/actions/create_image`	Backup

A single ɳCloud Hetzner API token manages all customer servers. All servers live in the ɳSelf Hetzner project.

Plugin-Licensing — plugin pricing (separate from hosting)
Guide-Production-Deployment — self-hosting alternative to ɳCloud
Guide-SSL-Setup — SSL for self-hosted deployments
Security-Architecture — security model

← Features | _Sidebar