docs/en/installation/deploying-on-heroku.md
# Deploying on Heroku
## Manual deployment
This tutorial assumes that you have already managed to clone Consul Democracy on your machine and gotten it to work.
1. First, create a [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com) account if it isn't already done.
2. Install the [Heroku CLI](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/heroku-cli) and sign in using:
```bash
heroku login
```
3. Go to your Consul Democracy repository and instantiate the process:
```bash
cd consuldemocracy
heroku create your-app-name
```
You can add the flag `--region eu` if you want to use their European servers instead of the US ones.
If _your-app-name_ is not already taken, Heroku should now create your app.
4. Create a database using:
```bash
heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql
```
You should now have access to an empty Postgres database whose address was automatically saved as an environment variable named _DATABASE\_URL_. Consul Democracy will automatically connect to it when deployed.
5. Now, generate a secret key and save it to an ENV variable named SECRET\_KEY\_BASE using:
```bash
heroku config:set SECRET_KEY_BASE=$(rails secret)
```
Also add your server address:
```bash
heroku config:set SERVER_NAME=myserver.address.com
```
You need to let the app know where the configuration variables are stored by adding a link to the ENV variables in _config/secrets.yml_
```yml
production:
secret_key_base: <%= ENV["SECRET_KEY_BASE"] %>
server_name: <%= ENV["SERVER_NAME"] %>
```
and commit this file in the repo by commenting out the corresponding line in the _.gitignore_.
```gitignore
#/config/secrets.yml
```
**Remember not to commit the file if you have any sensitive information in it!**
6. To ensure Heroku correctly detects and uses the node.js and ruby versions defined in the project, we need to make the following changes:
In package.json, add the node.js version:
```json
"engines": {
"node": "18.20.3"
}
```
and apply:
```bash
heroku buildpacks:add heroku/nodejs
```
In _Gemfile_, add the ruby version and run bundle:
```Gemfile
ruby file: ".ruby-version"
```
and apply:
```bash
heroku buildpacks:set heroku/ruby
```
7. You can now push your app using:
```bash
git push heroku your-branch:master
```
8. It won't work straight away because the database doesn't contain the tables needed. To create them, run:
```bash
heroku run rake db:migrate
heroku run rake db:seed
```
9. Your app should now be ready to use. You can open it with:
```bash
heroku open
```
You also can run the console on Heroku using:
```bash
heroku console --app your-app-name
```
10. Heroku doesn't allow saving images or documents in its servers, so it's necessary to setup a permanent storage space.
See [our S3 guide](using-aws-s3-as-storage.md) for more details about configuring ActiveStorage with S3.
### Configure Twilio Sendgrid
Add the Twilio SendGrid add-on in Heroku. This will create a Twilio SendGrid account for the application with a username and allow you to create a password. This username and password can be stored in the application’s environment variables on Heroku:
```bash
heroku config:set SENDGRID_USERNAME=example-username SENDGRID_PASSWORD=xxxxxxxxx
```
Now add this to `config/secrets.yml`, under the `production:` section:
```yaml
mailer_delivery_method: :smtp
smtp_settings:
:address: "smtp.sendgrid.net"
:port: 587
:domain: "heroku.com"
:user_name: ENV["SENDGRID_USERNAME"]
:password: ENV["SENDGRID_PASSWORD"]
:authentication: "plain"
:enable_starttls_auto: true
```
**Important:** Turn on one worker dyno so that emails get sent.