Managing projects

Your project configs live in your own directory and git repo — by default ~/outpost-projects (OUTPOST_PROJECTS_DIR) — completely separate from the tool. That separation is the point: you update the tool with a clean git pull, and your private configs never live in a fork of the public repo.

A project is just a directory of plain files

outpost-projects/
  web/
    Dockerfile        # required: FROM outpost-base:latest, EXPOSE <port>, extra packages
    tunnels.json      # optional: public Cloudflare routes
    compose.yaml      # optional: this project's services (Postgres/Redis/…)
    ports.pin         # optional: pin EXPOSE'd ports to fixed host ports

There are no field-level commands to edit ports or tunnels — a project is a few readable files, and you edit them directly. That’s simpler and more flexible than any flag surface, and it matches outpost’s “the tool guesses nothing” philosophy.

You edit on the host — there is no push/pull-to-deliver

The projects dir lives on the host, where you already work in the terminal. You edit web/Dockerfile right there and run outpost setup web. The host is the source of truth, so there’s no “edit on laptop → push → pull to box” loop. Git is purely for backup, history, and multiple hosts — and it’s a single command:

outpost projects sync           # git pull --rebase --autostash → commit (auto msg) → push

The commit message is generated from what changed (e.g. add api; update web); pass -m "…" to override. Set OUTPOST_AUTO_COMMIT=1 to also commit automatically on projects new/rm.

The outpost projects commands

Command	What it does
outpost projects init [--remote <url>]	Create the dir, git init, set the remote, add a starter project.
outpost projects new <name> [-t <tpl>]	Scaffold <name>/ from a template (flutter/go/minimal/node/python/rust/static).
outpost projects edit <name> [file]	Open the project dir (or one file: dockerfile/tunnels/compose/ports) in $EDITOR.
outpost projects ls	List configured projects (and whether each has a container).
outpost projects rm <name> [--destroy]	Remove the config dir; --destroy also drops the container + volumes.
outpost projects sync [-m "msg"]	Pull, commit (auto message), push.
outpost projects templates / path	List templates / print the projects dir.

outpost projects rm removes the config; the top-level outpost rm removes the container (keeping config and volumes). Different things, on purpose.

See Examples for worked Dockerfile/compose.yaml/tunnels.json patterns to copy.