Guide Custom Services

Guide: Custom Services

Add up to 10 custom Docker services (CS_1 through CS_10) to your ɳSelf stack. Use this for app-specific services that aren't covered by the plugin ecosystem.

How Custom Services Work

Custom services are defined via environment variables. ɳSelf reads CS_1_* through CS_10_* variables and generates the corresponding docker-compose service block automatically on nself build.

Adding a Custom Service

Step 1: Define the service in .env

# CS_1: Node.js API server
CS_1_ENABLED=true
CS_1_NAME=my-api
CS_1_IMAGE=node:20-alpine
CS_1_PORT=3100
CS_1_COMMAND=node server.js
CS_1_WORKDIR=/app

# Pass environment variables to the service
CS_1_ENV_NODE_ENV=production
CS_1_ENV_DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}

Step 2: Rebuild and restart

nself build    # generates updated docker-compose.yml
nself restart  # applies changes

Step 3: Verify

nself status          # should show my-api as running
nself urls            # shows URL if routed through nginx

Available Language Templates

See 40+ starter templates to get going quickly:

nself service templates

Templates include: Node.js, Python (FastAPI, Django), Go, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Java Spring Boot, Rust, and more.

Example: Python Worker (CS_2)

CS_2_ENABLED=true
CS_2_NAME=worker
CS_2_IMAGE=python:3.12-slim
CS_2_COMMAND=python -m celery worker
CS_2_ENV_CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://redis:6379/0

Custom Service Variables Reference

Variable	Description
CS_N_ENABLED	true / false
CS_N_NAME	Service name (lowercase, alphanumeric + hyphens)
CS_N_IMAGE	Docker image reference
CS_N_PORT	Internal port the service listens on
CS_N_COMMAND	Override container command
CS_N_WORKDIR	Working directory inside container
CS_N_ENV_*	Environment variables passed to the service

See Also

• Config-Custom-Services, full env var reference
• cmd-service, service command reference
• Architecture, how custom services fit the stack

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