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Overview

Hetzner Cloud offers high-performance VPS starting at ~$4/month with excellent European network. Polpo runs well on even the smallest instances.
WorkloadInstancevCPURAMCost
Light (1-3 agents)CX2224 GB~$4/mo
Medium (4-8 agents)CX3248 GB~$7/mo
Heavy (8+ concurrent)CX42816 GB~$15/mo

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Deploy with Docker

  1. Create a server In the Hetzner Cloud Console, create a new server:
    • Image: Ubuntu 24.04
    • Type: CX22 or higher
    • Location: Pick the closest to your LLM provider (Nuremberg/Falkenstein for EU, Ashburn for US)
    • SSH key: Add your public key
  2. SSH in and install Docker 
    ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
  3. Create workspace 
    mkdir -p /opt/polpo/workspace
cd /opt/polpo
  4. Create docker-compose.yml 
    services:
  polpo:
    image: ghcr.io/lumea-labs/polpo:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./workspace:/workspace
    environment:
      - ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY:-}
      - OPENAI_API_KEY=${OPENAI_API_KEY:-}
    restart: unless-stopped
  5. Set API keys Create /opt/polpo/.env: 
    ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...
  6. Start 
    docker compose up -d

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Deploy without Docker

If you prefer running Node.js directly:
  1. Install Node.js 22 
    curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs git
  2. Install Polpo 
    npm install -g polpo-ai
mkdir -p /opt/polpo/workspace
cd /opt/polpo/workspace
polpo init
  3. Create systemd service Create /etc/systemd/system/polpo.service: 
    [Unit]
Description=Polpo Agent Orchestrator
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/opt/polpo/workspace
EnvironmentFile=/opt/polpo/.env
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /usr/lib/node_modules/polpo-ai/dist/cli/index.js serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 3000 --dir /opt/polpo/workspace
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
  4. Enable and start 
    systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable polpo
systemctl start polpo

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SSL with Caddy

Caddy is the simplest way to get automatic HTTPS on Hetzner: 
apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
apt update && apt install caddy
Create /etc/caddy/Caddyfile: 
polpo.yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:3000
}

systemctl reload caddy
Caddy automatically provisions Let’s Encrypt certificates. Point your domain’s DNS A record to the Hetzner server IP.

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Hetzner Firewall

In the Cloud Console, create a firewall rule:
DirectionProtocolPortSource
InboundTCP22Your IP
InboundTCP80, 443Any
Attach it to your server. This blocks direct access to port 3000 from the internet — all traffic goes through Caddy.

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Volumes (optional)

For larger workspaces, attach a Hetzner Volume: 
# In the Cloud Console: create a volume, attach to server
# It appears as /dev/sdb or similar

mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb
mkdir -p /opt/polpo/workspace
mount /dev/sdb /opt/polpo/workspace

# Persist across reboots
echo '/dev/sdb /opt/polpo/workspace ext4 defaults 0 2' >> /etc/fstab