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Deployment Patterns Overview

TFGrid Compose provides three deployment patterns that cover every use case from development to enterprise production.

Pattern Philosophy

Each pattern is:

  • ✅ Production-ready - Tested and verified
  • ✅ Purpose-built - Optimized for specific use cases
  • ✅ Cost-effective - Pay only for what you need
  • ✅ Battle-tested - Based on proven implementations

The Three Patterns

🔹 Single-VM Pattern

Simple VM deployment for development and internal services

tfgrid-compose up my-app --pattern=single-vm

Best for:

  • AI agents & coding environments
  • Databases and data stores
  • Internal APIs and services
  • Development environments

Deployment time: 2-3 minutes
Cost: $10-30/month

Learn more →

🌐 Gateway Pattern

Multi-VM with public access and SSL for production web apps

tfgrid-compose up my-webapp --pattern=gateway --domain=myapp.com

Best for:

  • Production websites
  • E-commerce sites
  • SaaS applications
  • Public web services

Deployment time: 5-7 minutes
Cost: $30-100/month

Learn more →

🚀 K3s Pattern

Full Kubernetes cluster for cloud-native applications

tfgrid-compose up my-cluster --pattern=k3s

Best for:

  • Cloud-native applications
  • Microservices architectures
  • Enterprise deployments
  • Production SaaS at scale

Deployment time: 10-15 minutes
Cost: $100-500/month

Learn more →

Choosing a Pattern

Start Simple → Scale Up

Development & Testing: Start with single-vm for fast, isolated development environments.

MVP & Early Production: Move to gateway when you need public access and SSL.

Scale & Enterprise: Upgrade to k3s for cloud-native features and horizontal scaling.

Pattern Comparison

Feature Single-VM Gateway K3s
Public IP ❌ ✅ ✅
SSL/TLS ❌ ✅ Auto ✅ Via Ingress
Load Balancing ❌ ✅ ✅ MetalLB
Scaling Manual Manual Auto
Complexity Low Medium High
Deploy Time 2-3 min 5-7 min 10-15 min
Min Cost $10/mo $30/mo $100/mo

Pattern Architecture

Single-VM Architecture

Your Laptop → WireGuard VPN → Single VM
                              (App + Data)

Gateway Architecture

Internet → Gateway VM → Private Network → Backend VMs
         (Public IP)   (Reverse Proxy)   (App + DB)
         (SSL/TLS)

K3s Architecture

Your Laptop → Management Node → K3s Cluster
              (kubectl/helm)    ├─ Control Plane
                                ├─ Worker Nodes
                                └─ Services (MetalLB, Ingress)

Migration Path

Patterns are designed for easy migration:

Single-VM → Gateway

  • Add public domain configuration
  • Enable SSL
  • Deploy gateway VM
  • Update DNS

Gateway → K3s

  • Define Kubernetes manifests
  • Deploy K3s cluster
  • Migrate services to pods
  • Update ingress rules

Next Steps

  • New to TFGrid Compose? → Start with Quick Start Guide
  • Ready to deploy? → Choose your pattern above
  • Need help deciding? → See Use Cases

Pattern Sources

All patterns are built on proven, working implementations:

See Architecture: Source Repositories for acknowledgments.

TFGrid Studio Ecosystem

Integrated tools and resources