Hostess Studio

What is Studio?

Hostess Studio is the web dashboard for the Hostess platform. It gives you a visual interface to manage everything about your deployments — organizations, projects, services, secrets, domains, backups, and more — without touching the CLI.

Studio lives at hostess.sh/dashboard. You can use it alongside the CLI or as your primary management tool. Every action available in the CLI has an equivalent in Studio.

Accessing Studio

To access Studio, navigate to hostess.sh/login. You can sign in there with email + OTP and GitHub OAuth. Those browser-only options are not available in hostess login, which is email + OTP only — use the same email address so Studio and the CLI refer to one account.

Once authenticated, you are taken to the dashboard where you can see all the organizations you belong to and switch between them.

Organizations

Organizations are the top-level container for everything in Hostess. Every project, team member, and billing plan belongs to an organization.

Creating an Organization

To create a new organization:

1. Click the organization switcher in the top-left corner of the dashboard.
2. Select New Organization.
3. Enter a name and an optional description for the organization.
4. Click Create Organization.

Switching Organizations

If you belong to multiple organizations, use the organization switcher in the top-left corner of the dashboard. Click it to see a list of all organizations you are a member of, and select the one you want to view.

Team Management

The Team page lets you manage who has access to your organization and what they can do. Navigate to it from the sidebar under your organization.

Inviting Members

1. Go to Team in the sidebar.
2. Click Invite Member.
3. Enter the email address of the person you want to invite.
4. Select a role for the new member.
5. Click Send Invitation.

The invited person receives an email with a link to accept the invitation. Once they accept, they appear in the team members list.

Roles

Hostess uses role-based access control to manage permissions within an organization. There are three roles:

Removing Members

To remove a member from the organization:

1. Go to Team in the sidebar.
2. Find the member in the list.
3. Click the Remove icon next to their name.
4. Confirm the removal in the dialog.

Changing Roles

To change a member's role:

1. Go to Team in the sidebar.
2. Find the member in the list.
3. Use the role dropdown next to their name to select a new role.
4. The change takes effect immediately.

Organization Settings

The Settings page for your organization lets you update the organization name, description, and other administrative settings. Navigate to it from the sidebar.

Projects

Projects are the core unit in Hostess. Each project corresponds to one hostess.yml configuration file — your entire application stack. Projects live inside organizations and contain all your deployments, services, secrets, and domains.

Creating a Project

To create a new project in Studio:

1. Navigate to your organization's dashboard.
2. Click Create Project.
3. Enter a project name.
4. Optionally add a display name and description.
5. Click Create Project.

Project Dashboard

The project dashboard is the project overview page. It focuses on the latest production deployment, recent deployment activity, and high-level counts. It shows:

• Latest production deployment — The production deployment status, primary URL, branch, commit SHA, commit message, and relative deployment time.
• Production services — A compact strip of services from the latest production deployment, with service type icons, status indicators, and links for web-facing services.
• Recent deployments — The latest deployments with environment badges, status indicators, commit messages or branch names, git metadata, and relative timestamps.
• Project stats — Counts for deployments, environments, and services, plus the project creation date.

Project Settings

Navigate to Settings in the project sidebar to:

• Update the project name and description.
• View the project ID.
• Delete the project.

Deployments

The Deployments page shows a chronological list of all deployments in your project. Each entry displays:

• Environment — The environment name for the deployment, shown as a badge.
• Status — A status dot and label indicating the deployment state.
• Commit message — The git commit message when available, or Manual deployment when there is no commit message.
• Git metadata — The branch and short commit SHA when available.
• Timestamp — When the deployment was initiated, shown as a relative time (e.g., "3 minutes ago").
• Initiator — The triggering user's avatar when available. The user's name is available as hover/title text when Studio has it.

Deployment Detail

Click on any deployment to see its full detail page. The deployment detail shows:

• Deployment status — The current deployment state, environment badge, deployment ID prefix, and progress bar while a deployment is in progress.
• Git information — Branch, short commit SHA, and commit message when available.
• Initiator and timestamp — The user who triggered the deployment and the relative time it was created.
• Services — Service cards with type icons, individual status indicators, and links to each service detail page.
• Service URLs — Stable and deployment-specific URLs for web-facing services when available.
• Deployment metadata — Environment name, service count, triggering user, and creation timestamp.

Services

The Services section is accessible from a deployment detail page. Select a service to open its detail page, where Studio shows the service overview and the tabs that apply to that service type.

Service Overview

The service overview page summarizes the service in the context of the selected deployment:

• Service information — Status, environment, service errors, and external URLs for web-facing services.
• Build information — Build status, duration, start time, and completion time for services built from source.
• Deployment reference — Deployment ID, deployment status, git branch, and short commit SHA.
• Type-specific details — Next.js services show framework and route details, FastAPI services include API documentation links, and database services show local connection guidance and database group information.

Real-Time Logs

The Logs tab streams service logs and provides controls for reading and exporting output:

• Search — Filter logs by keyword.
• Pause/Resume — Pause the log stream to read through output without it scrolling away.
• Auto-scroll — Keep the view pinned to the newest log lines.
• Clear — Clear the current in-browser log buffer.
• Download — Export the current log output for offline analysis.

Log access follows organization role permissions.

Metrics

The Metrics tab uses the service type to choose the right dashboard:

• Application services — Generic services show CPU and memory cards and charts.
• Next.js and FastAPI services — Web services show traffic-oriented dashboards.
• Postgres and Redis services — Database services show database-specific operational metrics.

Configuration

The Configuration tab shows the service's current configuration as applied during the last deployment:

• Service identity — Service name, type, and type icon.
• Resources and scale — CPU, memory, storage, replica count, and exposed ports when present.
• Build and runtime — Whether the service was built from source, uses an image, or has a custom command.
• Dependencies and domains — Dependency relationships and configured domains.
• Health and lifecycle — Health check and lifecycle hook status.
• Databases and persistence — Database groups, durable mounts, and retention settings.
• Environment variables — Environment variable names and values made available to Studio for the deployment.

Build Logs

The Build Logs tab shows captured build output for services built from source. You can refresh the log view, toggle auto-scroll, copy the output, and inspect the build status alongside the log text.

Database Management

Postgres and Redis services include type-specific Studio pages for connection guidance, data inspection, metrics, and backups.

Local Access

The database service overview includes a Connect card for local access. Studio shows the hostess connect command for the selected service:

# Connect to a Postgres database
hostess connect database

# Connect to a Redis instance
hostess connect cache

The CLI opens a local port-forward and prints the local address to use with psql, redis-cli, GUI clients, or application tooling. The connection stays open until you stop the command with Ctrl+C. See the CLI connect reference for details.

Database Groups

The database overview also shows scoped database group information when the service is configured for grouped consumers:

• Postgres groups — The group name, generated Postgres database name, and services that consume that group.
• Redis groups — The group name, Redis database index, and services that consume that group.

Postgres Database Browser

Postgres services include a Database tab for inspecting and editing database contents:

• Databases and schemas — Select a database and schema, then choose a table to inspect.
• Tables — Create and delete tables, and view table columns.
• Rows — Browse rows, add rows, edit rows, and delete rows.
• Columns — Add and delete columns from a selected table.

Redis Keys and Memory

Redis services include dedicated data and memory tools:

• Keys — Browse keys, search by pattern, inspect key values, and create keys.
• Memory — View memory usage, key counts, max memory, and eviction-policy information.

Metrics

Database metrics are shown on the Metrics tab:

• Postgres — Connection pool usage, performance metrics, storage by database, and replication status.
• Redis — Command volume, connected clients, memory usage, and keyspace statistics.

Backups

The Backups tab lists available backup objects and supports service backup workflows:

• Manual backups — Start a new backup from Studio.
• Backup list — Review backup filename, creation time, size, and trigger.
• Restore — Restore from a selected backup when automated restore is available for the service.
• Delete — Remove old backup files from object storage.

Secrets Management

The Secrets page provides an environment-scoped interface for managing encrypted project secrets. Navigate to Secrets in the project sidebar, then choose the environment you want to inspect or update.

Viewing Secrets

The secrets table displays secrets for the selected environment:

• Key — The secret key name (e.g., JWT_SECRET, STRIPE_API_KEY).
• Value — The secret value, masked by default. Owners and developers can reveal and hide values.
• Actions — Reveal, edit, and delete controls for the selected secret.

Use the environment selector at the top of the page to switch between environments. Each environment has its own secret set.

Adding a Secret

1. Click the Add Secret button.
2. Enter the secret name (e.g., STRIPE_API_KEY).
3. Enter the secret value.
4. Click Add Secret.

Editing a Secret

1. Find the secret in the list.
2. Click the edit icon.
3. Enter the new value.
4. Click Update Secret.

Deleting a Secret

1. Find the secret in the list.
2. Click the Delete icon.
3. Confirm the deletion in the dialog.

Deleting a secret removes it from the selected environment. If a service in that environment still references the deleted secret via ${secret:NAME}, the next deployment will fail with an error telling you which secret is missing.

Jobs

The Jobs page on a deployment shows top-level jobs: entries declared in hostess.yml.

• Job list — Job name, run policy, schedule when present, trigger source when present, current status, failure message, and skipped reason.
• Job detail — Status, run policy, started and completed timestamps, duration, schedule, last fire, next fire, and trigger source when those fields are available.
• Configuration — The job definition rendered as formatted JSON when configuration details are available.
• Controls — Owners and developers can run eligible jobs immediately and mark completed once jobs to run on the next deploy.

Custom Domains

The Domains page lets you manage custom domains for your services. Navigate to Domains in the project sidebar.

Domain List

The domains table shows all custom domains configured for your project:

• Domain — The domain name (e.g., myapp.com, api.myapp.com).
• Service — Which service the domain routes to.
• Environment — Which environment the domain is active in.
• DNS Record — The DNS record to configure, with a copy action for the CNAME target.
• Status — The current domain state, such as Pending DNS, DNS Verified, Active, or Failed.
• Actions — Verify pending DNS configuration or remove the domain.

Adding a Domain

To add a custom domain in Studio:

1. Click Add Domain.
2. Enter the domain name (e.g., app.example.com).
3. Select the service the domain should route to.
4. Select the environment. The dialog preselects production when it is available.
5. Click Add Domain.

After adding the domain, Studio displays the DNS record you need to configure. Use the value shown in the DNS Record column:

CNAME app.example.com → <CNAME target shown in Studio>

DNS Verification

Use the Verify action to check whether your DNS record is configured correctly. The status badge shows the result:

• Pending DNS — The CNAME record has not been verified yet.
• DNS Verified — The CNAME record points to the expected target.
• Failed — Verification did not succeed.

SSL Certificate Status

Once DNS is verified, Hostess provisions TLS for the domain. The domain status updates as setup progresses:

• DNS Verified — DNS is correct and the domain is ready for certificate setup.
• Active — The domain is serving over HTTPS.

Backups

The Backups page lets you review stored backup files, start manual backup jobs, restore from existing snapshots, and delete old backup files. The Backups tab appears for Postgres and Redis services, and for custom services with backup configuration.

Viewing Backup History

The backup table shows the stored backup files for the selected service:

• Filename — The backup file name in object storage.
• Date — When the backup file was created.
• Size — The size of the backup file.
• Type — The backup trigger, such as manual or a scheduled backup.
• Actions — Restore or delete controls for the backup file.

Creating a Manual Backup

To create a backup on demand:

1. Navigate to the Backups tab for the service.
2. Click Create Backup.

Studio starts a manual backup job immediately. When the backup upload finishes, the new backup file appears in the backup list.

Restoring from a Backup

To restore from a previous backup:

1. Find the backup you want to restore from in the history list.
2. Click the Restore button next to it.
3. Confirm the restore action in the dialog.

For Redis services, restore may include a brief restart while backup data is written.

Backup Configuration

Backup schedules are configured in your hostess.yml file. Edit the backup schedule in configuration, redeploy, and use Studio to view backup files, start manual backups, restore snapshots, and clean up old files. See the Configuration Reference for backup configuration options.

Navigation Reference

Here is a summary of the main pages and where to find them in Studio: