page:recipes:knowledge base:rails:public site

Host knowledge base with Rails: public-site delivery

Deploy a knowledge base built with Rails on Ample using the public web service pattern. Compute runs the app in an isolated microVM behind a public HTTPS URL, and a published bucket serves public assets from the CDN host. Verified on Rails: a versioned, immutable-cached asset uploaded to a published bucket and served from the CDN URL alongside the app's own public HTTPS URL. Not separately tested: your site content and build; treat the knowledge base-specific behavior as your application code.

Representative Queries

Resource Requirements

Infrastructure Requirements

  1. Compute
    • Status: verified
    • Summary: Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.
  2. CDN
    • Status: verified
    • Summary: The CDN host serves objects from published buckets. It does not front app compute and is not a cache or key-value store.

Prerequisites

  1. A Rails project that builds and starts with the documented commands (bundle install into vendor/bundle from Gemfile.lock (development and test groups skipped), then Puma via rails server reading PORT on the ruby-3.4 template with RAILS_ENV=production)
  2. A bucket from ample bucket create with its credentials passed as encrypted S3_* environment variables
  3. An Ample account token with servers:write, buckets:read

Tested Configuration

Workflow Steps

  1. Build and start
    bundle install into vendor/bundle from Gemfile.lock (development and test groups skipped), then Puma via rails server reading PORT on the ruby-3.4 template with RAILS_ENV=production. The server must bind 0.0.0.0 on PORT.
  2. Wire object storage
    Create the bucket(s), then pass endpoint, region, bucket and keys as --env values. Use path-style addressing. Keep private data in an unpublished bucket. Publish only the bucket that serves public assets and reference its CDN URL.
  3. Deploy
    Run the synchronous deploy once and read the result (exit 0 live, 1 failed, 2 blocked). Re-running with no change is a no-op.
    • Command: ample deploy . --name --public --env S3_ENDPOINT=... --env S3_REGION=... --env S3_BUCKET=... --env S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... --env S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=... --env CDN_PUBLIC_URL=...
  4. Verify
    Fetch the live URL and the pattern self-test route(s) (/p/versioned-static-assets) from the example; then run your own checks. On failure read ample logs --kind build then --kind runtime.
    • Command: ample logs --kind build

Success Checks

  1. app responds on its public URL
    • Kind: http_get
    • Path: /
    • Expect: ample canary rails patterns
  2. versioned-static-assets self-test
    • Kind: http_get
    • Path: /p/versioned-static-assets
    • Expect: a CDN URL whose content is served publicly

Limitations

Cost Estimate

Evidence Summary

  1. Kind: canary_run
    • Summary: Rails pattern fixture deployed on Ample; checks passed for versioned-static-assets and configuration-secrets.
    • Observed At: 2026-09-20T21:55:28Z
  2. Kind: canary_run
    • Summary: The same Rails app deployed with a --release-command migration; the marker it created was readable after activation.
    • Observed At: 2026-09-20T21:55:28Z

Next Actions