Install Compact on Render

The single public render.yaml describes one Compact web service, a private PostgreSQL service with the Flow Steward database extensions, and a private RabbitMQ service. Render creates and connects the three services from one Blueprint. It pulls from the same public Compact image repository used by other platforms; there is no Render-specific application image or Dockerfile. PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ can start in parallel; Compact waits for both before it initializes the database or writes to its persistent volume. You do not need to run a local shell script, change disk permissions manually, or copy connection passwords between services.

This is the Compact topology. For Scalable, use the VPS installation until a Render-specific Scalable deployment has been tested.

Fresh Blueprint acceptance on 2026-09-28 used Compact source 31652e30e9c65b16576e9a4b3d105072c24b8337, image digest sha256:dee794207e38a4828cadd659cb41cbeaf65a1bdfedd6e4532bcb2a89c77681b1. It covered readiness, first-administrator setup, browser sign-in, the users, projects, jobs and status CLI commands, and a restart preserving the user, existing session, a data file and saved runtime keys. Graceful shutdown was also checked under Render's actual container permissions. AI-provider execution and a full backup/restore exercise were outside this installation check.

Before you start

• Have a Render account with a payment method. The Blueprint repository and all three container images are public; Render does not need access to the Flow Steward application source. Render's Hobby workspace itself is free, but the three services and their persistent disks are paid.
• Use a new Blueprint and new disks for a new installation. A previous test disk is not a clean first-install test, even if its service is suspended.
• Review the service plans and disk sizes in the public render.yaml before confirming the Blueprint. The file is the deployment configuration; Render can show its resources and estimated charges before provisioning.

The September 2026 test configuration was quoted at $140.25/month:

Service	vCPU	RAM	Persistent disk	Monthly compute + disk
Compact	2	4 GB	10 GB	$87.50
PostgreSQL	1	2 GB	10 GB	$27.50
RabbitMQ	1	2 GB	1 GB	$25.25

These are separate allocations, not a shared 8 GB memory pool. This is a test configuration, not a measured minimum. Confirm current prices in Render before deploying; traffic overages and applicable taxes may add to the estimate. PostgreSQL is our extension-enabled container on a private service, not Render's managed PostgreSQL product. Plan database backups and upgrades accordingly.

Deploy

1. Use the Deploy to Render button. It opens the public configuration repository; choose its main branch and the root render.yaml. No application-source Git connection is required.
2. Review the three proposed services, their Frankfurt region, plans, and disks. Deploy the Blueprint. It generates separate PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ passwords and links them to Compact without exposing them in the YAML file.
3. Wait until PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ are running and the Compact web service is Live. Compact uses /health/ready as its health check. The first image pull can take longer than a restart; a web address appearing in the dashboard is not a readiness signal.
4. Open flow-steward-compact → Logs. Find the line beginning Flow Steward has no administrator yet. Privately copy the complete one-time setup URL printed there and open it to create the first administrator. The URL expires 15 minutes after issue. Opening /bootstrap directly without it displays a token field because the public page does not reveal the secret.

Do not paste the setup URL into a support ticket or screenshot. It contains a one-time token. After creating the administrator, sign in at /login.

If the link expires before any user exists, restart only the Compact service from its dashboard, then read its fresh logs. Keep the PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ services and all three disks intact. If the logs say an earlier link is still valid, use that link or wait for it to expire before restarting again.

Operate and update

Open flow-steward-compact → Shell in Render to inspect the running container. The packaged application is under /app; /data is the persistent volume. The Blueprint keeps one Compact instance because two instances must not write to the same volume. PostgreSQL and RabbitMQ are private services; only the Compact web service has a public HTTPS URL.

A restart or deployment temporarily interrupts access while Render replaces the instance attached to the persistent disk. Wait for Live and /health/ready before retrying; this single-instance configuration does not provide zero-downtime deployments.

Run the packaged CLI directly from the Shell, from any working directory:

flow-steward --help
flow-steward users --help
flow-steward --json users list
flow-steward status

If you cannot use the first-administrator link, create an administrator from this private Shell instead:

flow-steward users create --role admin --plain

Enter your email and password in the interactive form. For a shell that does not support the form, start bash, then read the password without echoing it or writing it into shell history:

bash
read -rsp 'New admin password: ' FS_ADMIN_PASSWORD; printf '\n'
printf '%s\n' "$FS_ADMIN_PASSWORD" | flow-steward users create --email you@example.com --role admin --password-stdin --confirm
unset FS_ADMIN_PASSWORD

Replace you@example.com with your own address. Do not run the host repository's ./flow-steward Docker launcher inside this container. The packaged command loads the running installation's saved settings itself; do not export secrets or copy files out of /data/state. Host installation and stack commands, and users issue-bootstrap-token, are unavailable in the container. Use the Render dashboard for deployment operations and /health/ready for HTTP readiness.

The Blueprint disables automatic application redeployment, but Blueprint configuration changes can still sync from its public repository. Review image digest and configuration changes before an upgrade, with a verified backup and the release's database-upgrade procedure. Suspending a service pauses compute, but it does not replace a backup or establish that data will survive deletion. Keep all three disks if you intend to resume the installation.

If deployment fails, inspect each service's Deploy Logs. A database image that lacks Apache AGE or pgvector, an unavailable private hostname, or a missing disk will prevent Compact from becoming ready. Do not repeatedly delete and recreate the application disk just to make the health check green: record the failing step and preserve the data for diagnosis.