doctl apps create-deployment Command Reference

Trigger a new deployment for a DigitalOcean App Platform app.

doctl apps create-deployment kicks off a fresh deployment of an existing App Platform app. In CI it ships the latest build and can block until the rollout is healthy.

What it does

doctl apps create-deployment requests a new deployment for the given app id, pulling the latest source or image per the app spec. With --wait it polls until the deployment succeeds or fails, making the result the job status.

Common flags and usage

APP_ID: the id of the app to deploy (required)
--wait: block until the deployment completes
--force-rebuild: rebuild from source instead of reusing the last build
--format / --no-header: shape output for parsing
authenticate with doctl auth init or DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN

Example

shell

- name: Deploy to App Platform
  env:
    DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
  run: |
    doctl apps create-deployment "${APP_ID}" --wait --force-rebuild

In CI

Authenticate non-interactively by exporting DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN from secrets (doctl reads it automatically). Use --wait so the job fails when the rollout fails rather than returning immediately, and --force-rebuild when you want a clean build from source.

Key takeaways

create-deployment triggers a new App Platform rollout for an app id.
--wait makes the job track the rollout to success or failure.
Export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN from secrets for non-interactive auth.