Distributed Deployment

Deploy acodeaday components on different platforms for flexibility and scaling.

Architecture Overview

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐
│    Frontend     │────▶│    Backend      │────▶│    Judge0       │
│  Vercel/Netlify │     │ Railway/Fly.io  │     │  VPS/RapidAPI   │
└─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘     └─────────────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
                        ┌─────────────────┐
                        │   Database      │
                        │   Supabase      │
                        └─────────────────┘

Component Deployment

Frontend

Recommended platforms: Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages

The frontend is a TanStack Start (React) application with SSR.

Deploy to Vercel

1. Connect your GitHub repo to Vercel
2. Set the root directory to frontend
3. Configure environment variables:

VITE_API_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com
VITE_SUPABASE_URL=https://[project].supabase.co
VITE_SUPABASE_KEY=[your-anon-key]

4. Deploy

Deploy to Netlify

1. Connect your GitHub repo
2. Build settings:
   • Base directory: frontend
   • Build command: npm run build
   • Publish directory: .output/public
3. Add environment variables (same as Vercel)
4. Deploy

Using Docker Image

docker pull ghcr.io/engineeringwithtemi/acodeaday-frontend:latest

docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e VITE_API_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com \
  -e VITE_SUPABASE_URL=https://[project].supabase.co \
  -e VITE_SUPABASE_KEY=[your-anon-key] \
  ghcr.io/engineeringwithtemi/acodeaday-frontend:latest

---

Backend

Recommended platforms: Railway, Fly.io, Render

The backend is a FastAPI (Python) application.

Deploy to Railway

1. Create new project from GitHub repo
2. Set root directory to backend
3. Configure environment variables:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://postgres.[ref]:[password]@aws-0-[region].pooler.supabase.com:6543/postgres
SUPABASE_URL=https://[project].supabase.co
SUPABASE_KEY=[your-anon-key]
JUDGE0_URL=https://your-judge0-url.com
ENVIRONMENT=production
LOG_LEVEL=INFO

4. Optional (for AI chat):

GOOGLE_API_KEY=...
OPENAI_API_KEY=...
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=...

5. Deploy - migrations run automatically on startup

Deploy to Fly.io

1. Install Fly CLI: brew install flyctl
2. Create app:

cd backend
fly launch --no-deploy

3. Set secrets:

fly secrets set DATABASE_URL="postgresql+asyncpg://..." \
  SUPABASE_URL="https://..." \
  SUPABASE_KEY="..." \
  JUDGE0_URL="https://..."

4. Deploy:

fly deploy

Deploy to Render

1. Create new Web Service from GitHub repo
2. Root directory: backend
3. Build command: pip install uv && uv sync
4. Start command: uv run uvicorn app.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port $PORT
5. Add environment variables
6. Deploy

Using Docker Image

docker pull ghcr.io/engineeringwithtemi/acodeaday-backend:latest

docker run -d \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql+asyncpg://... \
  -e SUPABASE_URL=https://... \
  -e SUPABASE_KEY=... \
  -e JUDGE0_URL=https://... \
  ghcr.io/engineeringwithtemi/acodeaday-backend:latest

---

Judge0 (Code Execution)

Judge0 is resource-intensive and requires privileged Docker mode.

Option 1: Self-hosted VPS (Recommended)

Best for production - no rate limits, full control.

Requirements:

• VPS with 2+ CPU cores, 4GB+ RAM
• Docker with privileged container support

Setup:

# Create judge0-compose.yml with just Judge0 services
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/engineeringwithtemi/acodeaday/main/docker-compose.yml

# Extract Judge0 services or use this minimal config:
cat > judge0-compose.yml << 'EOF'
services:
  judge0-server:
    image: judge0/judge0:1.13.1
    command: ["bash", "-c", "sudo mkdir -p /box && sudo chmod 1777 /box && exec ./scripts/server"]
    ports:
      - "2358:2358"
    privileged: true
    environment:
      - REDIS_HOST=judge0-redis
      - POSTGRES_HOST=judge0-db
      - POSTGRES_USER=judge0
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=judge0password
      - POSTGRES_DB=judge0
      - ENABLE_WAIT_RESULT=true
    depends_on:
      - judge0-db
      - judge0-redis

  judge0-workers:
    image: judge0/judge0:1.13.1
    command: ["bash", "-c", "sudo mkdir -p /box && sudo chmod 1777 /box && exec ./scripts/workers"]
    privileged: true
    environment:
      - REDIS_HOST=judge0-redis
      - POSTGRES_HOST=judge0-db
      - POSTGRES_USER=judge0
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=judge0password
      - POSTGRES_DB=judge0

  judge0-db:
    image: postgres:13-alpine
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=judge0
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=judge0password
      - POSTGRES_DB=judge0
    volumes:
      - judge0-postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  judge0-redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    command: redis-server --appendonly yes
    volumes:
      - judge0-redis-data:/data

volumes:
  judge0-postgres-data:
  judge0-redis-data:
EOF

# Start Judge0
docker compose -f judge0-compose.yml up -d

Configure your backend with:

JUDGE0_URL=http://your-vps-ip:2358

Option 2: RapidAPI (Hosted)

For low-traffic use or testing.

1. Sign up at RapidAPI Judge0
2. Get your API key
3. Configure backend:

JUDGE0_URL=https://judge0-ce.p.rapidapi.com
JUDGE0_API_KEY=your-rapidapi-key

WARNING

RapidAPI free tier is limited to 50 requests/day. For regular use, self-host Judge0.

---

Connecting Components

CORS Configuration

The backend must allow requests from your frontend domain.

Update backend/app/main.py:

app.add_middleware(
    CORSMiddleware,
    allow_origins=[
        "https://yourdomain.com",
        "https://app.yourdomain.com",
    ],
    allow_credentials=True,
    allow_methods=["*"],
    allow_headers=["*"],
)

Frontend → Backend

Set VITE_API_URL to your backend's public URL:

VITE_API_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com

Or if using a subdomain:

VITE_API_URL=https://backend.yourdomain.com

Backend → Judge0

Set JUDGE0_URL to your Judge0 instance:

JUDGE0_URL=http://your-judge0-vps:2358

If Judge0 is behind a firewall, ensure your backend's IP can reach it.

---

Cost Comparison

Setup	Frontend	Backend	Judge0	Database	Total
Free Tier	Vercel Free	Railway Free ($5 credit)	RapidAPI Free	Supabase Free	$0/mo
Production	Vercel Pro ($20)	Railway ($5-20)	VPS ($10-20)	Supabase Pro ($25)	~$60-85/mo
Self-Hosted	VPS ($5)	Same VPS	Same VPS	Supabase Free	~$5-10/mo

---

Troubleshooting

CORS errors in browser

Problem: Frontend can't make requests to backend.

Solution: Add your frontend domain to CORS allowed origins in the backend.

Judge0 timeout

Problem: Code execution times out.

Solution:

• Check if Judge0 is running: curl http://your-judge0:2358/about
• Ensure backend can reach Judge0 (firewall rules)
• Check Judge0 worker logs: docker logs judge0-workers

Database connection issues

Problem: Backend can't connect to Supabase.

Solution:

• Use the pooler URL (port 6543) for serverless deployments
• Verify your IP is allowed in Supabase network settings
• Check connection string format: postgresql+asyncpg://

Environment variables not loading

Problem: Frontend shows API errors.

Solution:

• Verify VITE_ prefix for all frontend env vars
• Redeploy after changing environment variables
• Check browser network tab for actual API URL being used

---

Next Steps

• Self-Hosting Overview - Other deployment options
• Deploy to Coolify - PaaS alternative
• Environment Variables - Complete reference