Rails on Docker: Kamal Field Notes [Early Access]

Get semi-regular, early-access email "Field Notes" from my research and real-world usage of Kamal to optimise and simplify application deployments.

Topics currently planned for inclusion are:

• An introduction to Kamal & Docker.
• Preparing your app's Dockerfile
• Deployment to cloud VMs (e.g. Digital Ocean)
• Testing deployments with local VMs (e.g. Parallels, VirtualBox)
• Using Kamal with Podman
• Configuring your app for multi-tenant, multi-target deployments.
• Shape the course: Reply to the emails with your specific Kamal-related questions to have them answered directly in the course emails.

More Information

With Rails 8, Kamal is the new convention for deploying your apps. Whether to a cloud VM, dedicated server, "bare-metal", or even a VM running locally on your machine, Kamal gives you a flexible, standardised approach to deploying your applications.

Kamal 2 is quite new, though, and as with all software it's constantly changing. Rather than a static course or eBook, I'm trying something a little different: an ongoing series of tutorials, learnings, and "notes to self" as I work with Kamal to deploy Rails apps (and more) into containerised environments.

As I learn, I'll post my findings to a private email list to which you will have access. Don't worry if you miss (or delete!) an email, as you'll be able to access the full history through a private archive.

Full Transparency: This is an experiment, and a complete change to my previous projects. It's likely things will adapt and change as time goes on, especially as Kamal itself develops.

It will certainly cover some edge cases that I've worked with on my Kamal journey already, such as using Kamal with Podman (something it's not designed for, but is doable), and deploying to different platforms such as AWS and GCP.

The objective is at least one email a month, but it's likely to be far more regular - especially in the early days.

🙏 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Rails on Docker: Kamal Field Notes is a monthly subscription, but comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If within 30 days of subscribing, you're not entirely satisfied for any reason, let me know and I'll refund your payment in full.

Otherwise your membership will continue to be collected, but you can of course cancel anytime (subscriptions are handled by Gumroad).

👋 Who wrote this course?

The posts in Rails on Docker: Kamal Field Notes are by Chris Blunt, a software consultant and developer based in Plymouth, UK.

Chris has been using Rails to build web applications since 2008. He wrote Rails on Docker, which is the larger course to which this Field Notes project is associated.

Today, Chris works with clients to support and develop their apps for the long-term. He also provides consulting and technical training for software businesses and developers who are building products with Ruby on Rails and supporting technologies such as Docker.

You can find out more about Chris' professional software services at plymouthsoftware.com. He also writes at chrisblunt.com.

👋 Connect

If you've purchased Rails on Docker: Kamal Field Notes, you'll be able to hit reply on any of the emails, or simply get in touch here.

You can also follow @cblunt.bsky.social on Bluesky and cbluntuk on LinkedIn.

❓I have a question...

Great! I'd love to help - please get in touch here, or send a message to @cblunt.bsky.social on Bluesky if you have any questions!