--- name: terminal--render description: >- Expert guidance for Render, the modern cloud platform for deploying web applications, APIs, databases, and background workers. Helps developers configure Render services using `render.yaml` Infrastructure as Code, set up auto-deploy from Git, manage environment variables, and optimize for production origin: "github.com/TerminalSkills/skills (skill: render)" license: Apache-2.0 version: "1.0.0" compatibility: "yamtam-engine >= 0.14.0" --- # Render — Cloud Application Platform ## Overview Render, the modern cloud platform for deploying web applications, APIs, databases, and background workers. Helps developers configure Render services using `render.yaml` Infrastructure as Code, set up auto-deploy from Git, manage environment variables, and optimize for production workloads. ## Instructions ### Infrastructure as Code Define all services in a single `render.yaml`: ```yaml # render.yaml — Complete application infrastructure services: # Web service — auto-deployed from Git - type: web name: api-server runtime: node region: oregon plan: standard # free | starter | standard | pro buildCommand: npm ci && npm run build startCommand: npm start envVars: - key: NODE_ENV value: production - key: DATABASE_URL fromDatabase: name: main-db property: connectionString - key: REDIS_URL fromService: name: redis-cache type: redis property: connectionString - key: JWT_SECRET generateValue: true # Auto-generate a random secret - key: SENTRY_DSN sync: false # Must be set manually in dashboard autoDeploy: true # Deploy on every push to branch healthCheckPath: /health numInstances: 2 # Horizontal scaling scaling: minInstances: 1 maxInstances: 5 targetMemoryPercent: 70 targetCPUPercent: 60 # Background worker — same repo, different entry point - type: worker name: job-processor runtime: node buildCommand: npm ci && npm run build startCommand: npm run worker envVars: - key: DATABASE_URL fromDatabase: name: main-db property: connectionString - key: REDIS_URL fromService: name: redis-cache type: redis property: connectionString # Static site — frontend SPA - type: web name: frontend runtime: static buildCommand: cd frontend && npm ci && npm run build staticPublishPath: frontend/dist headers: - path: /* name: Cache-Control value: public, max-age=31536000, immutable - path: /index.html name: Cache-Control value: no-cache routes: - type: rewrite source: /* destination: /index.html # SPA routing fallback # Cron job — scheduled tasks - type: cron name: daily-cleanup runtime: node buildCommand: npm ci startCommand: npm run cleanup schedule: "0 3 * * *" # 3 AM daily envVars: - key: DATABASE_URL fromDatabase: name: main-db property: connectionString # Private service (internal only, no public URL) - type: pserv name: internal-api runtime: docker dockerfilePath: ./Dockerfile envVars: - key: PORT value: "3001" databases: - name: main-db plan: standard # free | starter | standard | pro databaseName: myapp postgresMajorVersion: 16 ipAllowList: [] # Empty = allow all Render services - name: redis-cache plan: starter ``` ### Dockerfile Deployment Deploy any application with Docker: ```dockerfile # Dockerfile — Multi-stage build for a Node.js API FROM node:20-alpine AS builder WORKDIR /app COPY package*.json ./ RUN npm ci --only=production COPY . . RUN npm run build FROM node:20-alpine AS runner WORKDIR /app RUN addgroup -g 1001 -S nodejs && adduser -S nodejs -u 1001 COPY --from=builder --chown=nodejs:nodejs /app/dist ./dist COPY --from=builder --chown=nodejs:nodejs /app/node_modules ./node_modules COPY --from=builder --chown=nodejs:nodejs /app/package.json ./ USER nodejs EXPOSE 3000 ENV NODE_ENV=production CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"] ``` ### Blueprint Sync API Programmatically manage services: ```typescript // scripts/deploy.ts — Trigger manual deploy via Render API const RENDER_API_KEY = process.env.RENDER_API_KEY!; const SERVICE_ID = process.env.RENDER_SERVICE_ID!; async function triggerDeploy(commitId?: string) { const response = await fetch( `https://api.render.com/v1/services/${SERVICE_ID}/deploys`, { method: "POST", headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${RENDER_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json", }, body: JSON.stringify({ clearCache: "do_not_clear", }), } ); const deploy = await response.json(); console.log(`Deploy triggered: ${deploy.id} (status: ${deploy.status})`); return deploy; } // List recent deploys async function getDeployHistory() { const response = await fetch( `https://api.render.com/v1/services/${SERVICE_ID}/deploys?limit=10`, { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${RENDER_API_KEY}` }, } ); return response.json(); } // Scale service async function scaleService(numInstances: number) { const response = await fetch( `https://api.render.com/v1/services/${SERVICE_ID}/scale`, { method: "POST", headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${RENDER_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json", }, body: JSON.stringify({ numInstances }), } ); return response.json(); } ``` ### Custom Domains and SSL ```yaml # render.yaml — Custom domain configuration services: - type: web name: api-server customDomains: - domain: api.myapp.com # SSL auto-provisioned via Let's Encrypt - domain: api.myapp.io ``` ### Environment Groups Share environment variables across services: ```yaml # render.yaml — Using environment groups envVarGroups: - name: shared-config envVars: - key: LOG_LEVEL value: info - key: CORS_ORIGIN value: https://myapp.com - key: AWS_REGION value: us-east-1 services: - type: web name: api-server envVars: - fromGroup: shared-config - key: PORT value: "3000" - type: worker name: job-processor envVars: - fromGroup: shared-config ``` ## Examples ### Example 1: Setting up Render for a microservices project **User request:** ``` I have a Node.js API and a React frontend running in Docker. Set up Render for monitoring/deployment. ``` The agent creates the necessary configuration files based on patterns like `# render.yaml — Complete application infrastructure`, sets up the integration with the existing Docker setup, configures appropriate defaults for a Node.js + React stack, and provides verification commands to confirm everything is working. ### Example 2: Troubleshooting dockerfile deployment issues **User request:** ``` Render is showing errors in our dockerfile deployment. Here are the logs: [error output] ``` The agent analyzes the error output, identifies the root cause by cross-referencing with common Render issues, applies the fix (updating configuration, adjusting resource limits, or correcting syntax), and verifies the resolution with appropriate health checks. ## Guidelines 1. **Use render.yaml** — Infrastructure as Code is versioned with your app; no manual dashboard config to reproduce 2. **Health checks are mandatory** — Set `healthCheckPath` so Render knows when your service is ready and can route traffic 3. **Auto-scaling for production** — Configure min/max instances with CPU/memory targets instead of fixed instance counts 4. **Environment groups for shared config** — Don't duplicate environment variables across services; use `fromGroup` 5. **Use `generateValue: true` for secrets** — Let Render generate random values for JWT secrets, API keys, etc. 6. **Preview environments** — Enable pull request previews for staging; each PR gets its own URL 7. **Multi-stage Docker builds** — Keep production images small; separate build and runtime stages 8. **Database connection pooling** — Use PgBouncer or connection pooling in your ORM; Render databases have connection limits