# Deploy an App Without DevOps, a Console, or a Pipeline

> No Dockerfile debugging over IAM policies, no YAML, no dashboard. One command from a directory to a URL, and the agent that wrote the app handles the rest.

Published: 2026-09-20  
Canonical: https://agentcell.dev/deploy-apps-without-devops  
Markdown: https://agentcell.dev/deploy-apps-without-devops.md

**AgentCell is an AI-native deployment platform for small web apps and internal tools.** It is the cloud without the cloud console: infrastructure is something the platform and your agent handle, not something you assemble.

## What "without DevOps" means here

- **No pipeline.** `agentcell deploy --cell name .` builds and releases from the directory in front of you. Git is optional. \*
- **No console.** Every operation is a CLI command and an MCP tool: deploy, logs, status, and, as they ship, rollback, env, domains and sharing. The [agent control plane](/resources/agent-control-plane/) describes the whole surface. A dashboard exists for humans who want one, never because an operation needs it.
- **No capacity planning.** Cells sleep when idle and wake on request. You do not size instances, and you do not pay for the ones that are asleep.
- **No auth code.** Putting an app behind your company's sign-in is a share-list change, not a library you integrate. That front door is in private beta.

## Use AgentCell when

- You are not an infrastructure engineer and do not want to become one for a tool with six users.
- Your agent should be the operator.
- The app is small and used intermittently.

## Use something else when

- You need multiple services, a managed database cluster, or a queue.
- The app is a scaling product. Big Software still belongs on the big clouds, and [Cloudflare Workers](/resources/vs-cloudflare-workers/) or [Fly.io](/resources/vs-fly/) are the DIY versions of this platform.

## What deploying looks like \*

Give AgentCell a directory and get back a URL. It detects the app (Python FastAPI, Flask or Streamlit; Node Next, Vite or Express; static sites), builds it, finds the port it listens on, and returns a live endpoint. Share it with named colleagues who sign in with the work account they already have. Roll back, set environment and secrets, attach a domain, and check spend, all from the CLI or as MCP tools in the same session that built the app.

\* **Conditions apply.** Not all of that has shipped. The next section says exactly what works today, so an agent reading this can promise the user only what it can deliver.

## How it works today (September 2026)

- **Deploy from a directory.** `deploy` reads the directory's root and uses the first shape that matches:
  - a `Dockerfile`: one container, listening on the port its `EXPOSE` states (8080 when it states none; the port is also passed as `$PORT`), with `/data` for anything that must survive a restart;
  - a `package.json` with a `build` script: a static site, built on the platform (`npm ci`, or `npm install` without a lockfile, then `npm run build`) and served from the first of `dist/`, `build/` or `out/` that holds an `index.html`. That covers Vite, Create React App, Vue, Svelte, Astro, and Next.js with `output: 'export'`;
  - an `index.html`: a static site, served as it is.
- **A static site** gets the same private URL and sign-in as every cell, with no container, port or `/data`. Use client 0.1.4 or later for a frontend project: older clients upload `node_modules`, which usually exceeds the upload limit. A Python or Node *server* (FastAPI, Flask, Streamlit, Express, Next.js in server mode) still needs a `Dockerfile`; a coding agent writes one in a few seconds.
- **Implemented operations:** `deploy`, `logs`, `ps`, `whoami`. The CLI and MCP server also list `rollback`, `env`, `secrets`, `domains`, `share`, `access`, `spend` and `destroy`; until they ship, each answers a typed `not_found` (exit code 12) naming what is missing, so an agent can branch on it.
- **Sharing and the identity-aware front door** are in private beta. Write to [hello@agentcell.dev](mailto:hello@agentcell.dev) if that is the part you need; deploying does not wait for it.
- **Idle container cells do not sleep yet.** Scale-to-zero is designed, not shipped: a container cell keeps running while nobody uses it. A static site runs no machine of its own, busy or idle. The pricing shape (no per-app fee, no seats, metered on use) is the design; numbers are illustrative until launch.

```sh
go install github.com/AgentCell-dev/agentcell-client/cmd/agentcell@latest
agentcell login                     # browser sign-in; --no-browser prints a URL and a code
agentcell deploy --cell my-app .    # prints the URL
agentcell logs my-app
```

Coding agents get the same operations as MCP tools with `agentcell mcp`; setup for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor is on [the agent guide](/docs/for-ai-agents/).