Services

Each entry under services in your manifest is one service of your app, keyed by a name you choose. A service's type selects what it is:

type	What it runs
container	Your code: a prebuilt image, or an image built from your repository.	Container services
postgres	A managed database (PostgreSQL), provisioned and operated by AppHaven.	Database

A small app is often just the two:

services:
  web:
    type: container
    build:
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    ports:
      - 3000
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: ${service.db.url}
    depends_on:
      - service: db
        condition: healthy

  db:
    type: postgres

Networking

Services in the same deployment share a private internal network and reach each other by service name: a service named api listening on 8080 is reachable from another service as http://api:8080, and a database named db as db:5432. Declared ports are how AppHaven serves your app on its URL; nothing else is reachable from the internet.

Start order (depends_on)

Any service can declare that it should start after another:

    depends_on:
      - service: db          # another service in this manifest
        condition: healthy   # "started" or "healthy"; default "started"

• condition: started: wait until the other service's container has started.
• condition: healthy: wait until it reports healthy. The target must define a healthcheck; managed databases come with one built in.
• References must point at a service in the same manifest, and the dependency graph must have no cycles.

depends_on controls start ordering only: it doesn't affect networking, and AppHaven also restarts services automatically if they crash, so it isn't your app's only safety net.

Where to go next

• Container services: images, builds from source, healthchecks.
• Database: the managed database.
• Volumes: give a service durable storage.
• Environment variables: configuration and secrets.