Deploy runtime-owned apps

Summary

Apps with point.json "runtime": "owned" (the default from point create) ship as one Bun process: owned interpreter, HTTP, SSR, forms, and JSON routes from packages/point/runtime/. You do not run point build-app, emit TypeScript for views, or build a web/ bundle.

Legacy templates (full-stack-app, saas-app, vercel-app) still use emit + Vite — see Deploy Point apps.

Prerequisites

Bun on the host (Render, Railway, Fly, Docker, or your VM)
@hatchingpoint/point in devDependencies (templates ship this)
Environment variables for secrets and database URLs — read via capabilities env / std.env in actions, never hard-coded in source

Local production smoke

point check src/app.point
point serve src/app.point --port 8080

Or from a scaffolded app:

bun run serve

Open the printed URL. SSR pages, form POSTs, and JSON routes (for example GET /readiness) should respond without a separate frontend dev server.

Render / Railway / Fly (no Docker)

Setting	Value
Runtime	Bun
Build command	`bun install`
Start command	`bun run serve` or `point serve src/app.point --port $PORT`
Health check	HTTP GET on a JSON route or SSR page (for example `/readiness`)

Set platform env vars in the dashboard:

Variable	Use
`PORT`	Usually injected by the host; pass through to `point serve --port` if your start script reads it
`DATABASE_URL`	SQLite (`sqlite:./data/app.db`) or Postgres connection string for `runtime-saas-app`
`JWT_SECRET`	Auth signing for SaaS templates — override demo defaults in production

For SQLite on ephemeral disks, mount a persistent volume or use a hosted Postgres URL instead.

Docker (optional)

FROM oven/bun:1
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json bun.lock* ./
RUN bun install --frozen-lockfile
COPY . .
ENV PORT=8080
CMD ["bun", "run", "serve"]

Build and run:

docker build -t my-point-app .
docker run -p 8080:8080 -e DATABASE_URL=sqlite:/data/app.db my-point-app

No multi-stage Vite build step is required for owned-runtime apps.

Runtime SaaS template

point create my-saas --template runtime-saas-app
cd my-saas
bun install
point run src/app.point init database

Production:

DATABASE_URL=sqlite:/data/members.db bun run serve

Verify:

POST /api/login with password demo returns a JWT (change demo credentials before production)
GET /api/members lists rows after init
Protected routes return 401 without a Bearer token

CI before deploy

point fmt-check
point check src/app.point
point test tests/*.test.point

Owned apps block point build, point build-ts, and point build-app for that project surface — do not add emit steps to CI for runtime-owned apps.

What not to do

Do not add web/vite.config.* or author *.ts / *.tsx shims — extend packages/point/runtime/ instead
Do not commit generated/ for owned apps; there should be none in the author tree
Do not assume :5173 — owned SSR serves from the runtime HTTP port printed by point dev / point serve