---
layout: docs
page_title: 'Lifecycle: Deploy'
description: |-
  A deploy takes a previously built artifact and stages it onto the target deployment platform. The target deployment platform is pluggable and can be Docker, Kubernetes, Nomad, EC2, and more.
---

# Deploy

A deploy takes a previously [built artifact](/docs/lifecycle/build) and stages it onto the target deployment platform. The [target deployment platform](#target-deployment-platforms) is pluggable and can be Docker, Kubernetes, Nomad, EC2, and more.

"Stage" in this context means that the application should be ready to receive
traffic, but is not yet open to public traffic. For example, the application
should not be added to the load balancer, DNS should not be updated, etc.
While it is staged, the deployment is accessible via the
[deployment URL](/docs/url#per-deployment-urls) or other internal means.

-> **Note:** Not all platforms support the concept of "staging" a deployment or this
behavior may not be desirable. Waypoint does not enforce this requirement
and some deployment plugins may not support it.

A deploy is triggered during a `waypoint up` or using the dedicated
`waypoint deploy` command.

## Configuration

The deploy is configured using the `deploy` stanza within an `app`:

```hcl
app "my-app" {
  deploy {
    use "kubernetes" {}
  }
}
```

### Target Deployment Platforms

To deploy your app with Waypoint, you will need to select which platform to use.
A deployment platform is a runtime for your app. It could be a container runtime
capable of running a docker image or it could be a virtual machine platform.
The deployment platform must be compatible with the app artifact output format from [build](/docs/lifecycle/build).

You can currently use Waypoint to deploy your app to any of these platforms.

- [Kubernetes](/plugins/kubernetes)
- [HashiCorp Nomad](/plugins/nomad)
- [AWS EC2](/plugins/aws-ec2)
- [AWS ECS](/plugins/aws-ecs)
- [AWS Lambda](/plugins/aws-lambda)
- [Google Cloud Run](/plugins/google-cloud-run)
- [Azure Container Instances](/plugins/azure-container-instance)

~> You may use the Kubernetes plugin to target any Kubernetes instance. For example, AWS EKS, Azure AKS, Google GKE, and Kubernetes for Docker Desktop.

#### How to Add a Deployment Platform to Waypoint

You can also create a [plugin](/plugins) to extend Waypoint with your own deployment platform. If you would like to add a plugin for a platform currently not in Waypoint, please file a [GitHub Issue for the project](https://github.com/hashicorp/waypoint/issues).

## Automatic Release

By default, `waypoint deploy` automatically performs a
[release](/docs/lifecycle/release).

This is because this is often the most expected behavior of a deploy
since traditionally deploy and release were inseparable. We consider
separating deploy and release steps a best practice so we encourage
Waypoint users to disable this behavior as soon as they're comfortable.

This behavior can be disabled by using the `-release=false` flag
with `waypoint deploy`:

```shell-session
$ waypoint deploy -release=false
...
```

-> A future Waypoint version will allow this to be disabled in the project
configuration file.

## Private Registries

Deployment platforms that pull an app container image
from a private registry need configuration to authenticate
to a private registry.

### Kubernetes with a Private Registry

For Kubernetes, reference [authenticate to private container registries
with a kubernetes
secret](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/pull-image-private-registry/).
If you named the secret `example-registry-secret`, then you can [reference the
secret in
Waypoint](https://www.waypointproject.io/plugins/kubernetes#image_secret) like:

```hcl
...
  deploy {
    use "kubernetes" {
      image_secret = "example-registry-secret"
    }
  }
...
```

### Docker with a Private Registry

When deploying to Docker with a private image, Waypoint will [use authentication
from the registry stanza](/docs/lifecycle/build#private-registries) or "out
of band" Docker authentication configured directly with Docker.

### Nomad with a Private Registry

The Waypoint Nomad plugin does not currently support [configuring the `auth`
stanza](https://www.nomadproject.io/docs/drivers/docker#authentication) in the
Nomad task configuration.

### Other Platforms with a Private Registry

Platform plugins such as AWS ECS, Azure ACI, and GCP Cloud Run often inherently
support private registries.
