> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.springwinter.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Deploy Your First Service with Springwinter in 10 Minutes

> Sign up, connect AWS and GitHub, then deploy your first web server or static site into your own AWS account in a single guided flow.

Springwinter gets you from zero to a live, AWS-hosted service in under ten minutes. This guide walks you through every step — creating an account, linking your AWS account and GitHub repository, and watching your first deployment go live. By the end you will have a real ECS service or CloudFront-backed static site running inside your own AWS account.

<Info>
  **Before you begin, make sure you have:**

  * An **AWS account** with permissions to create CloudFormation stacks and the resources Springwinter needs (ECS, RDS, S3, etc.).
  * A **GitHub account** with at least one repository that contains either a `Dockerfile` (for web servers and workers) or a static build output directory (for static websites).
  * About **10 minutes** — that's genuinely all it takes.
</Info>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create your Springwinter account">
    Open [https://springwinter.dev/auth?mode=signup](https://springwinter.dev/auth?mode=signup) and sign up with Google, Microsoft, or your email address. After you confirm your email, you land on the Springwinter dashboard.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your AWS account">
    Springwinter deploys resources into your AWS account using a CloudFormation-provisioned IAM role — no long-lived credentials are ever stored. In the dashboard, open **Settings → AWS** and click **Connect AWS**. Springwinter generates a CloudFormation link that creates the required role in your account.

    Follow the full walkthrough in [Connect Your AWS Account](/connect-aws), then return here once your Role ARN is verified.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your GitHub account">
    Open **Settings → GitHub** and click **Connect GitHub**. You are redirected to the GitHub App installation page where you choose which repositories Springwinter can access. After you confirm the installation, you are returned to the dashboard automatically.

    See [Connect GitHub](/connect-github) for details on permissions and multi-organization setups.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a project">
    In the dashboard, click **New Project**, give it a name, and confirm. Projects group your related services together and share the same AWS connection and team members. Every resource you create lives inside a project.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a web server or static website">
    Inside your new project, click **Add Resource** and choose the resource type that matches your repository:

    * **Web Server** — your repo has a `Dockerfile` and exposes an HTTP port.
    * **Static Website** — your repo produces an `index.html` (React, Next.js export, Astro, plain HTML, etc.).

    Select the GitHub repository and branch, set any environment variables you need, and click **Deploy**. Springwinter kicks off the first build immediately.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Watch the build and visit your live URL">
    The dashboard streams your build logs in real time. For a web server, Springwinter builds your Docker image, pushes it to ECR, and rolls it out on ECS behind a load balancer with a TLS certificate. For a static website, it uploads the build output to S3 and provisions a CloudFront distribution.

    When the status indicator turns green, click the URL shown on the resource card — your service is live.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Auto-deploy is enabled by default. Every push to the branch configured on your resource triggers a new build and rolls out the updated version automatically. No CI configuration required.
</Tip>

## What to do next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Web Servers" icon="server" href="/deploy/web-servers">
    Configure scaling, health checks, custom domains, and environment variables for containerized services.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Workers" icon="gears" href="/deploy/workers">
    Deploy background processing services that run alongside your web servers without a public endpoint.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Static Websites" icon="globe" href="/deploy/static-websites">
    Customize your CloudFront distribution, set up redirects, and configure build commands.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Observability" icon="chart-line" href="/observability/logs">
    Explore CloudWatch logs, CPU and memory metrics, request rates, error rates, and live cost estimates.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>