noust create

Deploy a web application and put it online.

Reference Updated 29 October 2026 View as Markdown

Shell

noust create [OPTIONS]

Option	What it does	Default
`-d`, `--domain`	Domain the application is served on.
`--temporary`	Instead of a domain, a temporary address made of this server's address and the application's name (shop.203-0-113-10.sslip.io), to try it before a domain points here. A certificate is tried for it and the application stays on HTTP if it is refused.
`-s`, `--source`	Git URL, archive URL or directory to deploy from. Not with --recipe.
`--recipe`	Deploy a known application from its recipe (see 'noust recipe list'): its source, type, database and settings come from the recipe.
`--env`	Set a variable of the application environment, over --env-file and a recipe's own. Repeat for several.
`-t`, `--type`	Application type. Detected from the source when left on auto.	`auto`
`-p`, `--port`	Port the application listens on. A free one is chosen when omitted.
`-w`, `--webserver`	Web server that fronts the application.	`nginx`
`-b`, `--branch`	Git branch to deploy.
`--follow-tags`	Deploy the newest git tag that matches this glob (such as 'v*') and keep deploying new ones, from a release or a tag push, instead of following a branch.
`--no-ssl`	Serve over plain HTTP, without a certificate.
`--www`	Also answer on www., redirecting it to the domain (see 'noust domain').
`--env-file`	File of KEY=value lines to install as the application environment.
`--package-manager`, `--pm`	Node package manager. Detected from the lockfile when left on auto.	`auto`
`--subdomains`	Serve a monorepo app on this subdomain. Repeat once per app.
`--workspaces`	Deploy only this monorepo workspace. Repeat to select several.
`--no-database`	Skip database provisioning for a monorepo.
`--database`	Create a database for the application before its first build, owned by an account of its own, with its connection string in the environment (DATABASE_URL, REDIS_URL for Redis). NAME defaults to one derived from the domain. Not with --recipe.
`--database-version`	The version of the --database engine, such as 17 or 11.4. The installed one when omitted; one the server does not run is refused with what it runs.
`--install-database`	Install the --database engine, in --database-version, when it is not installed. Installs packages: the same as 'noust db install'.
`--database-instance`	Make the --database on this instance Noust runs ('noust db instance list') instead of the host's engine. One is also chosen by itself when --database-version is what an instance runs and the host does not.
`--compose-file`	Compose file to use, relative to the project. Detected when omitted.
`--compose-profiles`	Activate this Docker Compose profile. Repeat to activate several.
`--layout`	Build every deploy as a release behind a health gate, or in place. Defaults to the server's deploy.layout.
`--persist`	Keep this path, relative to the app, in shared/ across releases. Repeat for several.
`--build-file`	A YAML file holding 'build:' (base_directory, install, build, start, publish_directory, runtime): the operator's block for this application, which replaces the repository's noust.yaml and is kept for every update. How several applications are deployed from one repository: see docs/build.md.
`--force`	Deploy into an app directory that already holds files: in place a git checkout is brought up to date, keeping what git does not track (.env, data), and anything else is refused, never emptied; on releases a release is added beside them.
`--no-cache`	Build the first deployment without any cache: images without their layer cache.
`--registry`	A registry account (noust registry add) to pull private images with, for a Docker Compose or container application. Repeat it for several.
`--image`	Deploy this image from a registry: name[:tag][@sha256:digest]. Needs no source.
`--builder`	How a repository becomes an image: its Dockerfile, or Railpack, which needs none (noust setup railpack).
`--dockerfile`	The Dockerfile, relative to the repository. Default: Dockerfile or Containerfile in the context.
`--context`	The build context, relative to the repository. Default: its root.
`--target`	The stage of a multi-stage Dockerfile to build.
`--build-arg`	A build argument (not a secret: it is written into the image). Repeat for several.
`--build-secret`	A secret the build mounts, read from FILE and kept in the secret store; never an argument of the build. Repeat for several.
`--container-port`	Where the process listens inside the container. Default: what the Dockerfile or the image exposes.
`--volume`	A path in the container whose data survives every deployment, such as /data. Repeat for several.
`--restart`	Docker's restart policy: no, always, unless-stopped (default) or on-failure.
`--entrypoint`	Run this program instead of the image's ENTRYPOINT: the line is split into words the way a shell would, and no shell runs it. An empty line clears the image's entrypoint (its CMD is then the program). Setting one drops the image's CMD: give --command too if it should still apply.
`--command`	Give the entrypoint these arguments instead of the image's CMD (split into words, no shell). Docker cannot clear a CMD: an empty line is refused; --clear command goes back to the image's.
`--registry-server`	The registry the account is for. Default: the image's own.
`--registry-user`	The account of a private registry.
`--registry-password-stdin`	Read the account's password from standard input.
`--team`	The team it belongs to (default: the default team).
`--project`	The project it belongs to (default: the team's default).
`--environment`	The environment it belongs to (default: production).
`-v`, `--verbose`	Show the detail of each step.
`--dry-run`	Rehearse without changing anything. Read-only checks still run.
`--no-color`	Never emit colour.
`--reason`	Why this change is made (a change reference, a ticket). Recorded with the command in the audit log; required only where a compliance framework asks for it (ENS) or security.change_reasons is on.