LaunchVerse Forge

LaunchVerse Forge is our proprietary, high-performance builder service designed specifically for the LaunchVerse Engine. Unlike generic builder images, Forge is deeply integrated into the platform to provide automated framework detection, persistent layer caching, and intelligent build phasing.

How Forge Works

When you trigger a deployment, Forge intercepts the process and manages the complete lifecycle of converting your source code into a running application.

1. Framework Detection

Forge analyzes your repository structure and package.json (or equivalent) to detect your stack. We currently provide native, optimized support for over 20 frameworks, including:

1. Node.js Ecosystem: Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Remix, Astro
2. Backend: Node.js, Bun, Deno, Django, Python, Go, Rust, Ruby on Rails, Phoenix/Elixir
3. Static: Vite React, Static NGINX

2. Custom Dockerfile Injection

Based on the detected framework, Forge injects a highly optimized, production-ready Dockerfile. You do not need to provide your own Dockerfile unless you want to override the default behavior. Our templates automatically configure multi-stage builds to ensure your final image is as small and secure as possible.

3. Build Phasing

Forge breaks your deployment down into distinct, observable phases:

1. Cloning: Securely checking out your code from GitHub.
2. Dependency Resolution: Fetching and caching node_modules or equivalent packages.
3. Build: Executing your build commands (e.g., npm run build).
4. Health Verification: Before routing live traffic, Forge pings your container to ensure it returns a valid HTTP 200 response. If this fails, the deployment is marked as degraded and traffic is not routed.

Build Cache

LaunchVerse Forge heavily relies on persistent layer caching. Between deployments, Forge stores your dependency caches (node_modules, .next/cache) natively on the LaunchVerse Edge. This drastically reduces build times for subsequent deployments, allowing Next.js and Rust applications to rebuild in seconds instead of minutes.

Advanced Configuration

If you need deeper control, you can override the Forge defaults directly from your Project Settings:

1. Build Command: Override the detected build script.
2. Install Command: Change how dependencies are fetched.
3. Output Directory: Define where your static assets are compiled to.
4. Root Directory: Tell Forge to build from a specific monorepo subdirectory.