What is Slipway?

Slipway is an open-source, self-hosted deployment platform for Sails.js and The Boring JavaScript Stack applications. It combines deployment, database management, admin access, customer feedback, REPL access, and Quest monitoring in one platform.

The Goal

Slipway's goal is to deploy, manage, monitor, and administer Sails applications and their databases from one place.

Slipway provides:

• Deployment — Deploy Sails apps with a single command
• Database management — Provision PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis with one click
• Admin panel — Auto-generated CRUD for your Sails models (Bridge)
• Production REPL — Query your production data safely (Helm)
• Queue monitoring — Sails Quest integration (Quest Dashboard)
• Customer feedback — App-owned feedback, roadmap, updates, and widget (Bearing)

The Slipway Suite

Slipway includes these tools:

Component	Equivalent To	Description
Slipway Deploy	Forge/Coolify	Deployment & infrastructure
Slipway Helm	Tinkerwell	Production REPL for Sails
Slipway Bridge	Nova/AdminJS	Auto-generated data management
Slipway Bearing	UserJot/Canny	Feedback, roadmap, and updates
Quest Dashboard	Laravel Horizon	Queue monitoring for Sails Quest

Helm

Helm is a production REPL accessible from the Slipway dashboard that understands your Sails environment:

// Query models directly
await User.find({ role: 'admin' })
// → [{ id: 1, email: '[email protected]', role: 'admin' }]

// Use helpers
await sails.helpers.email.send({ to: '[email protected]', subject: 'Test' })
// → { success: true }

// Check config
sails.config.custom.stripeKey
// → 'sk_live_xxx...'

Bridge

Bridge auto-generates an admin panel from your Sails models:

• CRUD operations for all your models
• Relationship management (hasMany, belongsTo)
• Customizable list views with filtering and sorting
• File upload handling
• Role-based access control

Bearing

Bearing gives every app a feedback loop on its own domain:

• Public Feedback, Roadmap, and Updates pages
• Host-app identity without another customer account
• Server-enforced identified or anonymous participation
• A Slipway-controlled in-app updates widget

Quest Dashboard

If your app uses Sails Quest for job queues, Slipway automatically provides a queue dashboard:

• View job status (pending, processing, completed, failed)
• Retry failed jobs with one click
• Monitor worker status
• Queue throughput metrics

How It Works

1. Install Slipway on your VPS — One command to bootstrap
2. Connect your Sails app — Via Git or CLI deploy
3. Slipway detects your app — Reads your models, config, and hooks
4. Deploy with one command — slipway slide deploys your app
5. Manage everything from the dashboard — Bridge, Bearing, Helm, logs, domains

Architecture

Under the hood, Slipway uses:

• Docker for container isolation
• Caddy for automatic HTTPS and reverse proxying
• SQLite for Slipway's own data (lightweight)
• Sails.js + Vue + Inertia for the dashboard

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    SLIPWAY PLATFORM                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  │
│  │   Web UI    │  │   CLI Tool  │  │    REST API     │  │
│  │ (Dashboard) │  │  (slipway)  │  │  (Sails Actions)│  │
│  └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘  └────────┬────────┘  │
│         │                │                   │           │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │                 SLIPWAY CORE                      │   │
│  │  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐  │   │
│  │  │ Deployer│ │Database │ │  Proxy  │ │ Monitor │  │   │
│  │  │ Service │ │ Manager │ │ Manager │ │ Service │  │   │
│  │  └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘  │   │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│                          │                               │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │           CONTAINER RUNTIME (Docker)              │   │
│  │                                                    │   │
│  │  ┌───────┐  ┌───────┐  ┌───────┐  ┌───────────┐   │   │
│  │  │ caddy │  │ myapp │  │ redis │  │ postgres  │   │   │
│  │  └───────┘  └───────┘  └───────┘  └───────────┘   │   │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

When to Use Slipway

Use Slipway for:

• Sails.js applications — Sails-specific deployment, admin, and operations tooling
• The Boring JavaScript Stack — Vue/React + Inertia + Sails
• Self-hosted deployments — Run on your own VPS or bare metal
• Small to medium teams — No Kubernetes complexity needed
• Developers who want control — Own your infrastructure and data

Slipway is not for:

• Non-Sails applications — Use Coolify or Dokku for generic apps
• Serverless-first architectures — Use Vercel or Railway
• Large-scale enterprise — Consider Kubernetes for massive scale