Just to be clear: I don't charge for this feature.
It's a free offering in Shipnix for everyone who is registered, and then you are free to create servers with this image through the DigitalOcean dashboard if that's what you prefer.
When a new NixOs release is ready, you can log into the Shipnix dashboard, and replace the image with the current stable one, also at no charge.
Hi! My thoughts about the hobby plan is really just an entry level tier for those who are not ready yet to invest in the unlimited plans. If no one wants the plan, I can adjust or remove it, no harm in testing the waters.
The target audiences of Shipnix are freelancers, startups and agencies who wants to just spin up an IHP project for example and start creating value for their customers.
These audiences are less likely to adopt NixOS by tinkering with images and nixos-infect. The monthly price is less than what a software engineer costs for one hour.
Hi! This is just my very biased opinion, but in very short terms:
It's quicker, less work and you get servers running on a Nix flakes server config from the start with everything working just by filling out a form.
Especially in the freelance and startup sector, I think this brings value in terms of saving time.
That said, nothing wrong with the approach you are describing.
My target audience is a typical web developer that do not have time or energy to learn everything with NixOS from scratch, but wants to get a working Nix configuration and learn Nix a bit more softly with working code that works from the start.
Hi! Thanks :) Yes, it requires a Nix flake with NixOS configuration to run the server itself, but the Barebones starter configuration is very minimal.
If I understand you correctly, I think the "Migration" starter should work with a "Barebones" preset. Then you could "shipnixify" the project so it can be hosted on Shipnix. Then it would only require the work of figuring out how to migrate the project away from the nixpks paradigm.
If you know of any code examples of nixpkgs code out in the open that I could look at for making a guide on how to implement it on Shipnix, let me know :) I would very much like to make a guide like this!
MFA is top priority to implement next. I won't remove the "beta" flag on my service before this is implemented. I also think it makes sense to have it enforced.
Yes, agreed about the Github scope, and I already had another one commenting this on Twitter. I am looking into this :)
Hi! I think it solves many of the same problems, just differently.
I would think it's more of a beginner-friendly choice for those who are new to NixOS and find NixOps a bit difficult to learn.
Select a starter, have it all deployed and configured for you, do some coding, push to git and click deploy.
One of the goals of Shipnix is to have a good selection of starters to just get started quickly with building and shipping products. And I hope it can be a gateway drug for increased adoption of NixOS in the bootstrapper, freelancer and digital agency space.
For a veteran in NixOS and NixOps that already likes that flow, it might not be that interesting
Hi! The main strengths of Shipnix right now is ease of provisoning and deployment. And I will continue to add convenient starters that gives you a readily bootstrapped server in several technologies.
Most of what you would need to do is either in the UI or in the source code. They complement eachother. And I think it's a great way to learn Nix.
The NixOS configuration lets you set up LetsEncrypt and domain names declaratively through code. That's one of the strengths in my opinion, but taste might vary.
This also means no vendor lock-in. That being said, it might be that not everyone gets value of it.
I created this because I wanted something that organizes my servers nicely, saves build logs for debugging, lets me easily rollback if a build fails and is easy to managee and deploy.
Thanks for the feedback. I will work further on communicating this in the docs
Yes, I have plans on adding more providers in the future. I am especially interested in priotitizing a provider with GPU instances like Vultr. AWS/Google are also on the agenda.
Hi :) This should be possible, but I have not done it yet myself. For the time being, you would have to create a barebones NixOS project and build on that based on own research.
I have plans for making a dedicated starter to provision Elixir/Phoenix projects as a "1-click" starter
I am a paying IHP user, working on it commercially, and I for one support the paid plan.
If I used it for pure hobby, the paid version features wouldn't really matter that much to me anyway, but professionally these are timesavers.
I always get help, and I don't feel bad asking for support. I get listened to when suggesting improvements, and many times they do the job of implementing well thought out suggestions.
It's not purely based on devs working on it on their free time (although some do that as well). The core maintainers have a real incentive to keep the framework going strong.
The paid features are stuff like third-party oauth and Stripe, and does not bring limitations on the framework itself.
So that's some arguments, although biased, by being a fan of the framework :)