AppRunner - Deploy docker apps with built-in alerts and monitoring

Hey everyone,

I love experimenting and building stuff. But every time I wanted to launch something, the thing that slowed me down the most wasn’t writing code, it was setting up metrics, alerts, and dashboards.

Some people say you don’t need those in the early stages, but I really value visibility. I want to know when things break, before users do. The alternatives felt heavy especially going all-in on Kubernetes, which always ended up feeling expensive and overkill for my projects.

So I started scratching my own itch and built AppRunner: a way to build and deploy Dockerized apps without spending days wiring up infra. You just connect your repo and get a production VM with HTTPS, live logs, and crash alerts out of the box.

I have a hunch that I’m not the only one with this pain. Curious to hear from you all:

Do you set up metrics + alerts right from the start, or wait until later?

What’s your go-to deployment flow today?

If you could remove one headache from shipping apps faster, what would it be?

Would love your thoughts, your feedback here will shape where AppRunner goes next.

Loved the initiative, can't wait to try on my next pet project

Must have utility. Now I don't have to struggle / spend cycle on this. All of my focus can be on developing the app. 

AppRunner has been a game changer for me. As someone who loves building quickly, the part I dread the most is setting up all the infrastructure for deployment and monitoring. With AppRunner, I simply connect my GitHub repo, and it takes care of deploying my Docker app to a secure, production-ready VM with HTTPS, live logs, and crash alerts—all without me having to touch a cloud console or wrestle with complex setups like Kubernetes.

I really appreciate that it comes with built-in metrics and monitoring from day one. It’s awesome to get alerts as soon as something goes wrong, so I can fix issues before my users even notice. The whole process feels lightweight but powerful, which is exactly what I needed.

If you’re someone who wants to ship apps faster without the usual headaches of managing infrastructure, I definitely recommend giving AppRunner a try. Can’t wait to see how it evolves!