Operate one PostHog deployment from non-secret colors.yml. Read
references/configuration.md before changing
configuration or running a lifecycle operation.
Compute ownership
The pinned colors-compute library owns provider selection, remote S3/R2
state, deployment coordination, machine keys, network policy and the single
node. This package supplies singleton topology and SSH/HTTP ingress, then
uses the returned address, login user and SSH identity for its application
steps. New provider support belongs in the library; consumers update its pin.
The application needs a supported Ubuntu image and sufficient memory for
PostHog and its data services. Build first to check adapter capabilities.
Use posthog-ssh-sources and posthog-http-sources for neutral CIDR
allowlists. Existing selected-provider source options remain compatible.
External account key references may use ssh-private-key-path or operator/agent SSH configuration; external
private keys are never generated or removed. The local SSH block writes
IdentityFile only for a managed deployment key.
Existing <profile>/posthog-infrastructure.tfstate is refused before
compute mutation. Do not remove it to bypass this check: migrate ownership
explicitly or destroy the old deployment through its original version first.
Unreadable state and provider mismatches fail closed.
The default compute provider remains digitalocean. An explicit COLORS_PAR_IP
changes only the delete-cleanup target after a successful owned-state read;
it cannot bypass unreadable state or provider identity checks.
Safety
- Keep credentials in gitignored
.envrc.privateasCOLORS_PAR_*variables. - Never set
COLORS_PAR_PROFILEor edit/commit.colors/. - Keep
compute-prevent-destroy: true; deletion requires separate explicit authorization and a one-run environment override. - Build and dry-run before a real create.
./green build
./green create --dry-run
./green create
The machine keypair
The deployment owns its SSH key per the workspace SSH Keypair Standard. With no
<provider>-ssh-keys (digitalocean-ssh-keys or vultr-ssh-keys) in
colors.yml, the first real create generates ~/.ssh/<profile>, registers
it at the provider under the profile name, and a successful delete removes it
last.
The key lives outside the checkout, so cloning the deployment repository
elsewhere does not carry access — copy ~/.ssh/<profile>(.pub) deliberately.
A key with no state, or a provider key named after the profile that this
deployment's state does not own, stops the run: verify at the provider before
removing anything, and never delete a key whose fingerprint is not yours.
Rotation is a rebuild. Supplying <provider>-ssh-keys opts out and the
library never generates or deletes external key material. Supply
ssh-private-key-path explicitly.
The machine is named after the profile; <provider>-name is an optional
override, not a required key.
Convergence also writes a ~/.ssh/config block, so reaching the host needs no
address, user or -i flag:
ssh <profile> 'cd /opt/posthog && docker compose ps'
Real create includes public HTTPS health, synthetic event capture, and backup service verification.