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Ownkube

Migrate from Heroku

Moving from Heroku to Ownkube is mostly mapping your Procfile process types to Ownkube deployments, re-creating your database, and copying your config vars. There’s no rewrite: if it deploys on Heroku, it deploys on Ownkube. This guide walks the cutover, including the database backup and restore.

For a side-by-side of the two platforms, see Ownkube vs Heroku.

What moves

Section titled “What moves”
On HerokuOn Ownkube
web process in the ProcfileA Web deployment from the same repo
worker process in the ProcfileA Worker deployment
Heroku Scheduler taskA Job deployment with a schedule
Heroku Postgres add-onA managed PostgreSQL database
Config varsEnvironment variables on the deployment
DynoA deployment, metered per minute on actual CPU and memory instead of a fixed dyno size

Migrate your app

Section titled “Migrate your app”

  1. Connect your repo

    Connect your GitHub or GitLab account so Ownkube can build from the same repo. See Registries.

  2. Map your Procfile to deployments

    Create one Ownkube deployment per process type in your Procfile. A web: ... line becomes a Web deployment with the port your app listens on; a worker: ... line becomes a Worker deployment; anything you run through Heroku Scheduler becomes a Job with a schedule. Ownkube builds from source, or uses your Dockerfile if you have one.

  3. Copy your config vars

    Bring over the values from heroku config. Add them as KEY=value pairs and flip Secret on the sensitive ones. See Environment variables.

Migrate your database

Section titled “Migrate your database”

  1. Create a managed Postgres database

    Add a Database (PostgreSQL) in the same environment as your app. Ownkube generates credentials and injects DATABASE_URL into your app. See Databases.

  2. Dump from Heroku

    Using your Heroku app’s database URL, dump the data:

    Terminal window
    pg_dump "$(heroku config:get DATABASE_URL -a your-app-name)" --no-owner --no-privileges -Fc -f dump.pgc

  3. Restore into Ownkube

    Turn on public access for the new database (temporarily), then restore into it with TLS verification on:

    Terminal window
    pg_restore --no-owner --no-privileges \
      -d "postgresql://user:pass@db-yourname.ownkube.app:5432/app?sslmode=verify-full&sslnegotiation=direct" \
      dump.pgc

    Turn public access back off when the restore finishes. For production traffic, connect from inside the network.

Cut over

Section titled “Cut over”
  1. Verify on Ownkube. Open the generated hostname, exercise the app, and confirm it reads and writes the migrated database.
  2. Move your domain. Point your custom domain at the Ownkube deployment. TLS is provisioned and renewed automatically.
  3. Decommission Heroku once traffic is served from Ownkube and you’ve confirmed a clean window.

Want your own cloud later?

Section titled “Want your own cloud later?”

You can start on Ownkube Compute and, if you ever want your own data boundary or your own bill, connect an AWS account and run the same app in your own VPC with no second migration. See Clusters.

Ownkube vs Heroku A side-by-side of billing, features, and the own-cloud path.
Deploy a Next.js app A worked deploy, from repo to live URL with a database.
Pricing How the prepaid wallet meters CPU and memory per minute.
On the blog: a Heroku alternative in your own AWS account The reference architecture behind this migration, end to end.