Hosting ShortList for free

ShortList is one Docker image plus Postgres, so it runs comfortably on free tiers. Pick by how you'll use it:

You want	Use	Trade-off
Always on, for you (and a few friends), with email updates every 5 minutes	Oracle Cloud Always Free VM + Docker Compose + Caddy	About an hour of setup; you look after one small server
Light use, no server to look after	Render (free web service) + Neon (free Postgres)	The app sleeps after ~15 idle minutes and takes up to a minute to wake; email polling only runs while it's awake

Free-tier limits change. Check each provider's current terms before relying on them.

Option 1: Oracle Cloud Always Free (recommended)

Oracle's Always Free tier includes Arm (Ampere A1) compute that's far more than ShortList needs. ShortList's image and Postgres both run on Arm.

Create the VM

Sign up at cloud.oracle.com (a card is needed for verification; Always Free resources aren't charged). Pick a home region close to you (for India: Mumbai or Hyderabad). It can't be changed later.
Compute → Instances → Create instance:
- Image: Ubuntu 24.04 (or 22.04)
- Shape: VM.Standard.A1.Flex (Ampere), 1 OCPU and 6 GB RAM is plenty
- Add your SSH public key, then create.
Open ports 80 and 443. In the instance's subnet → Security list → Add ingress rules for TCP 80 and 443 from 0.0.0.0/0. Ubuntu images on Oracle also have their own firewall rules; on the VM:
```
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 6 -m state --state NEW -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
sudo netfilter-persistent save
```
Point a domain (or a free subdomain, e.g. from DuckDNS) at the VM's public IP with an A record.

Install and run

# Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sudo sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker

# ShortList
git clone https://github.com/Yash-Satankar/shortlist.git && cd shortlist
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env: ENCRYPTION_KEYS=k1:<key> (generate with openssl rand -base64 32, and keep a copy somewhere safe), ENCRYPTION_ACTIVE_KEY_ID=k1, APP_ORIGIN=https://jobs.example.com, TRUST_PROXY=1, and a strong POSTGRES_PASSWORD. Then:

docker compose --profile app up -d

HTTPS with Caddy

Caddy gets and renews the certificate by itself:

sudo apt install -y caddy
echo 'jobs.example.com {
  reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}' | sudo tee /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
sudo systemctl reload caddy

Open https://jobs.example.com: the first-run screen creates your admin account. Back up the database regularly (see self-hosting); a nightly cron job writing to object storage or another machine is enough.

Option 2: Render + Neon (light use)

The same setup as the public demo, without DEMO_MODE: follow the demo guide, and set instead:

SIGNUP_MODE=closed (you create your account on the first-run screen) and leave DEMO_MODE unset;
your own ENCRYPTION_KEYS, and keep a copy;
the same Docker command, node apps/api/dist/scripts/start.js (without DEMO_MODE it only migrates, then starts).

Because the free web service sleeps, background jobs (email polling, the nightly clean-up) only run while someone is using it. Neon keeps your data when the app sleeps.

Email (both options)

Sign-in emails: password reset and address confirmation

Any SMTP provider works. Two with free plans:

Resend: verify your domain, create an API key, then SMTP_HOST=smtp.resend.com, SMTP_PORT=465, SMTP_SECURE=true, SMTP_USER=resend, SMTP_PASSWORD=<API key>, MAIL_FROM=ShortList <no-reply@yourdomain>.
Brevo: SMTP & API → SMTP, then SMTP_HOST=smtp-relay.brevo.com, SMTP_PORT=587, SMTP_USER=<your Brevo login>, SMTP_PASSWORD=<SMTP key>, MAIL_FROM with a sender address you verified there.

Without SMTP everything still works; "Forgot password" is hidden, and an admin resets passwords from the command line.

Job emails coming in: Cloudflare Email Routing

ShortList reads job emails from a dedicated mailbox over IMAP (read-only). With a domain on Cloudflare, Email Routing (free) gives you a clean address that forwards there:

Create a dedicated Gmail account for job emails, turn on 2-step verification, and create an app password.
In Cloudflare: your domain → Email → Email Routing → enable, then add a custom address, e.g. jobs@yourdomain, forwarding to that Gmail (confirm the verification email it sends).
Use jobs@yourdomain when you apply, or set a filter in your main inbox that forwards job emails to it.
In .env: FEATURE_EMAIL_INTAKE=true, IMAP_HOST=imap.gmail.com, IMAP_USER=<the dedicated Gmail>, IMAP_PASSWORD=<app password>.

ShortList checks the mailbox every 5 minutes (EMAIL_POLL_CRON), and Settings → Email updates shows when it last read it.