Guides

From zero to running.

Step-by-step tutorials for real workloads — game servers, web apps, databases and more — each ending with a stack you can actually use.

Declare a two-container stack in cardinal.toml — database first, then WordPress — and start it with a single command.

Back up containers on a schedule with retention, verify archives, and restore — automatically via the supervisor.

Declare a whole stack — web server, database, cache — in one file and start it with cardinal up.

Serve a static site or a web app behind nginx — from a one-line container to HTTPS with free Let's Encrypt certificates.

Run a Minecraft Java server with a persistent world, resource limits and auto-restart.

Run a Python bot in a cardinal container with persistent code, a resource budget, and auto-restart.

Install cardinal, pull an image, and run a web server with port mapping — end to end.