Application deployment is a combination of organizational and technical actions.

There aren't many deployment tools, and most of them have been evolving over years, gradually earning business trust.

Recently, the author of Ruby on Rails — David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) — released a new tool: Kamal.

He did something that even large companies rarely attempt — created in months what usually takes years.

Crazy? After all, there are plenty of ready-made solutions out there!

But DHH implemented exactly what he needed — simple and transparent.

How did he manage that?

I think it's because he deeply understands the fundamentals of deployment and application configuration. Knowledge gives confidence and freedom for bold ideas.

Is this secret knowledge?

What if we break down deployment into parts — understand its essence from scratch?

Then deploying any project, with any tool, becomes understandable and even exciting.

0-Dependency Deploy is deployment from scratch, using only basic tools.

It helps you see the essence of processes and gain confidence in any situation and company.

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In my Master Class, I'll tell you about key stages of web application deployment, explain main technical and organizational aspects, and walk you through the deployment process step by step to help you understand the essence of these processes.

In today's market, narrow specialization is becoming increasingly less profitable. Businesses need specialists who can solve a wide range of tasks and see the connections between different areas of development.

It's no longer enough to be only a frontend or backend developer — today it's important to combine these roles and understand the entire system.

Ruby on Rails is a Full-Stack framework, where developers can work at all levels of a web application — from logic to interface and infrastructure.

One of the key skills of a modern specialist is understanding deployment. This is especially important for startups and growing companies, where deployment is an integral part of the technological process.

The ability to understand deployment processes, know the tools, and control application releases to the server — this is an essential skill for a professional who wants to be in demand.

Many developers focus on writing code and don't think about how the application gets to the server and starts running. When it comes to deployment, uncertainty, fear of errors, and stress take over.

Publishing an application is an important part of the business process, but often developers are separated from this stage and rely on DevOps engineers or system administrators.

In young companies, startups, and pet projects, developers often have to combine roles and handle deployment themselves. Lack of experience and understanding of processes turns this into a source of anxiety and errors.

The situation is complicated by the abundance of diverse tools and approaches, making it difficult to choose the right solution.

That's why deployment remains for many developers a stressful and problematic process — not because of complexity, but because of lack of basic knowledge and confidence.

For the first time with Ruby on Rails deployment, I encountered it in 2008, when our team was publishing a small social network. A colleague handled the process — he manually configured the server and launched the application using Phusion Passenger.

Later, working at startups and successful companies, I saw that sometimes even large businesses perform deployment almost manually — and this doesn't prevent them from working efficiently and being profitable.

By 2014, I had deeply mastered Rails application deployment and created my own deployment tool, leveraging my experience with Capistrano.

At large companies, I participated in setting up deployment processes using CI/CD, containers, and Helm.

Today, I apply simple and reliable approaches to application publishing and help colleagues and teams master deployment — clearly, calmly, and without stress.

I share this knowledge and practical experience in my deployment master class.

There are relatively few deployment tools on the market — most of them have proven their worth over time and earn business trust. However, each of them has its own architecture and philosophy, hiding the actual deployment processes behind layers of abstraction.

This often causes stress and uncertainty among developers: the tool works, but it's unclear how exactly.

Zero Dependency Deploy is an approach where we perform deployment without third-party tools and dependencies, using only basic operating system utilities and simple automation commands.

This approach helps to:

• understand fundamental deployment processes;
• increase confidence and control over the process;
• reduce unnecessary dependency on complex tools and ecosystems;
• learn to perform deployment independently and consciously.

In this master class, we use only simple and understandable tools, which form the foundation of all more complex deployment systems. This allows us to see the true essence of the process — without unnecessary wrappers and dependencies.

In the master class, we'll walk through the entire deployment path of a Ruby on Rails application step by step — from server setup to running the application in production.

• Discuss the main elements of deployment.
• Create a local test server.
• Learn the Docker-in-Docker technique.
• Master SSH key access and secure connection principles.
• Learn to perform server provisioning and configuration.
• Prepare a Rails application for deployment and production mode.
• Understand how to deliver code and configuration files to the server.
• Configure server services for stability and security.
• Explore log rotation tools and application health monitoring.
• Organize a complete deployment process — from build to launch.
• Acquire a server for practice and configure it.
• Deploy to the server.

Upon completion of the master class, you'll be able to follow the author's instructions to deploy a Rails application independently, understanding each stage of the process and controlling the result.

Upon completion of the master class, you'll gain knowledge applicable to deploying any web applications for small and medium business projects.

Application deployment is a key professional skill that gives developers confidence and independence in their work. A master class on such an important subject cannot be cheap, because its goal is to provide practical knowledge that can free you from fear, stress, and uncertainty in the deployment process.

I'm confident in the value and applicability of this material, so the master class price reflects its true practical benefit.

Participation Cost

• $175 USD — for participants of the Ruby on Rails lecture course and early subscribers.
• $200 USD — base price during the master class implementation phase.
• $350 USD — after the course is completed.
• $500 USD — from January 1, 2026.

The master class is scheduled to start on November 17, 2025. The first video will be released within a week after the start.

The program will include several video sessions and will last approximately 2 – 4 weeks, with gradual immersion into the deployment process.

The master class is expected to conclude in the second half of December 2025.