Set up OpsCrew, step by step

Written for someone who has never set up a server.

Step 1: Get the accounts

A GitHub account, with your app in a repository
OpsCrew opens pull requests there for you to review, and your app deploys from GitHub Actions (opens in a new tab).
A place to run your app
An account at Hetzner Cloud (opens in a new tab), DigitalOcean (opens in a new tab) or Contabo (opens in a new tab), where OpsCrew creates a server for you. Or a server you already have, or a Portainer (opens in a new tab) you already run.
Your own domain, if you want one
A Cloudflare (opens in a new tab) account with your domain on it gives your app its own address. No domain yet? OpsCrew can buy one once you confirm the price.
AI, if you want it
Claude Code (opens in a new tab) with your own Claude (opens in a new tab) plan, or an Anthropic (opens in a new tab) API key for the terminal. Without either, OpsCrew still works.

Each installs on Windows, macOS and Linux. In Claude Code you need Node.js (opens in a new tab) 22 or newer with npm (opens in a new tab), and the plugin installs OpsCrew for you.

Node.js 22.9 or newer
Runs OpsCrew. It comes with npx, which fetches OpsCrew for you each time.
Download Node.js (opens in a new tab)
git
Keeps your app’s history. OpsCrew uses it to put its changes on their own branch.
Download git (opens in a new tab)
OpenTofu, or Terraform
Creates your server from the plan you approve, and keeps that plan as code in your repository.
Install OpenTofu (opens in a new tab)

OpsCrew works in your accounts with access keys (tokens) you create there, and reads them from your terminal.

HCLOUD_TOKEN
Hetzner Cloud
In the Hetzner Cloud Console, open your project, then Security → API tokens, and create a Read & Write token.
DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN
DigitalOcean, instead of Hetzner
A personal access token with custom scopes. npx opscrew init lists the scopes to tick.
CNTB_OAUTH2_*
Contabo, instead of Hetzner
Four values: the client ID and secret, your login email and an API password, from Account → Security in Contabo’s Customer Control Panel. The four values
CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN
Cloudflare, for your domain
Create it in your Cloudflare profile’s API tokens, with the zone permissions the guide lists. The permissions
GITHUB_TOKEN
GitHub (opens in a new tab)
Log in once with the GitHub CLI (gh auth login), or create a fine-grained token for this repository only. The permissions
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Anthropic, optional
For the AI steps in the terminal. Claude Code needs no extra key.

Set each key in the terminal you run OpsCrew from (or before you start Claude Code)

export HCLOUD_TOKEN="your token"       # macOS and Linux$env:HCLOUD_TOKEN = "your token"       # Windows PowerShell

Never paste a key into a chat, Claude Code’s included. OpsCrew’s plugin reads keys only from the environment.

Pick the way you like. Both work on the same files in your repository, so you can switch at any point.

Add OpsCrew’s plugin inside a Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add softzer0/opscrew
/plugin install opscrew@opscrew

Then ask Claude to deploy your app.

Open a terminal in your app’s folder and type:

npx opscrew init

It checks what is installed and which keys are set. Each line marked ✗ says how to fix it.

The full command list is in the Quickstart, and every topic has its own page in the docs.