What is a Cloud project

A Cloud project runs on its own computer - a real Linux server that Playcode runs for you. It can have a backend, a database, uploaded files, and background work, and it keeps running after you close the tab. Playcode has two kinds of project, and this is the one for software rather than for pages alone.

The two kinds of project

Every Playcode project is either a browser project or a Cloud project. Same product, same chat, same editor. The difference is where your work actually runs.

How to tell which one you have

• Look at the project card on your dashboard. A Cloud project is marked Cloud. A browser project is marked Static.
• Look at the published address. A published browser project ends in .playcode.site. A Cloud app ends in .playcode.run.
• Look for the terminal. A Cloud project has one. In a browser project Playcode tells you the terminal is only available for Cloud projects.
• Check your plan. Cloud apps are part of the paid plans. Pro includes 3 Cloud apps and Max includes 10. The Free plan does not include any.

What a Cloud project gives you

• A real backend. Server-side code that runs on the computer, not in the visitor's browser. This is what sign-in, payments, and private data need.
• A database. Your app keeps its own data, and the data survives restarts. A new Cloud project starts with a database already set up, and Postgres is available when the app outgrows it. You never install or configure one yourself.
• Files that stay. Uploads, exports, and generated documents are written to the computer's disk and stay there. Anything installed stays too.
• A terminal. A real shell on the computer, inside the editor, for the moments you or the AI need to run a command. You can open one on the computer you build on, and one on the published app.
• A running server. A full Linux process model, so background jobs, scheduled work, queues, and real-time connections all work - it behaves like a real server because it is one.
• HTTPS and your own domain. Certificates are issued and renewed for you. See Adding a custom domain.

How a project becomes a Cloud project

You do not have to start over. In a browser project, the project menu has Add backend (Cloud). Playcode sets up the computer, copies your files into it, and switches the project to full-stack mode. It is the same project afterwards: same chat history, same files, same link.

Where a Cloud project is published

A Cloud project has two computers. One is the computer you build on - it holds the editor, the terminal, and the AI's work. The other is the production computer that your customers reach.

Publish takes the exact version of the code you see in the editor and deploys it to the production computer. Your app then answers on an address like k5f8j2.playcode.run. You can change that name, and you can put your own domain on top of it. Published browser projects use a different ending, .playcode.site, so the address itself tells you which kind of project produced it.

Two things happen around every republish, without you asking:

• Playcode saves a checkpoint of the production computer before it deploys the new version.
• If the new version fails to deploy, or fails its health check, Playcode puts the previously published version back.

Step by step: How to publish a website.

Code history and going back

There are two separate ways back, and they cover different problems.

Git history

Every Cloud project has its own git repository on Playcode's git server. It is stored apart from the project's computer, so your code is never held on that one disk alone. Changes are committed as the work goes, and publishing always ships one exact commit - Playcode records which commit is live. You can pull the repository, push to it, and export the whole project.

There is no commit-history panel in the editor today. Ask the AI to show you the history, or run git commands in the terminal.

Checkpoints

A checkpoint is a saved moment for the whole computer: code, packages, database, and uploads. Restoring one brings them all back together, in place. This is the part git cannot do - git can return a file, but it cannot return a table you deleted or a broken installation. The AI saves a checkpoint before risky work such as a database change, and you can save one whenever you like. See Checkpoints: Save and restore your project.

Restoring a checkpoint on the production computer replaces your live site for everyone, so Playcode asks you to confirm first.

When the computer sleeps

The computer you build on suspends when nobody is using it, and wakes up again when someone needs it. Nothing is lost while it sleeps: the files and the database stay exactly as they were, and running programs pause rather than stop. You do not have to start anything by hand.

If your subscription ends

Cloud apps need an active paid plan. If the subscription ends, Playcode stops the project's computers. Your files, your database, and your code are kept - nothing is deleted on a timer. While the computers are stopped, the published app does not answer, so visitors cannot reach the site.

Starting a stopped Cloud project again is a manual step on our side today. Subscribe again, then message support through the chat button in the bottom right and ask for the project to be started. Your data is waiting where you left it.

Where to go next

• How to publish a website - the publish flow itself
• Checkpoints: Save and restore your project - saving and restoring a moment
• Adding a custom domain - putting your own domain on a Cloud app
• Pricing - how many Cloud apps each plan includes