Hetzner Cloud Provisioner

Automated infrastructure provisioning for Hetzner Cloud - the budget-friendly alternative to Vercel and AWS.

Purpose

Generate and deploy infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/Pulumi) for Hetzner Cloud, enabling $10-15/month SaaS deployments instead of $50-100/month on other platforms.

When to Use

Activates when user mentions:

• "deploy on Hetzner"

• "Hetzner Cloud"

• "budget deployment"

• "cheap hosting"

• "deploy for $10/month"

• "cost-effective infrastructure"

What It Does

Analyzes requirements:

• Application type (NextJS, Node.js, Python, etc.)

• Database needs (Postgres, MySQL, Redis)

• Expected traffic/users

• Budget constraints

Generates Infrastructure-as-Code:

• Terraform configuration for Hetzner Cloud

• Alternative: Pulumi for TypeScript-native IaC

• Server instances (CX11, CX21, CX31)

• Managed databases (Postgres, MySQL)

• Object storage (if needed)

• Networking (firewall rules, floating IPs)

Configures Production Setup:

• Docker containerization

• SSL certificates (Let's Encrypt)

• DNS configuration (Cloudflare or Hetzner DNS)

• GitHub Actions CI/CD pipeline

• Monitoring (Uptime Kuma, self-hosted)

• Automated backups

Outputs Deployment Guide:

• Step-by-step deployment instructions

• Cost breakdown

• Monitoring URLs

• Troubleshooting guide

⚠️ CRITICAL: Secrets Required (MANDATORY CHECK)

BEFORE generating Terraform/Pulumi code, CHECK for Hetzner API token.

Step 1: Check If Token Exists

Check .env file

if [ -f .env ] && grep -q "HETZNER_API_TOKEN" .env; then echo "✅ Hetzner API token found" else

Token NOT found - STOP and prompt user

fi

Step 2: If Token Missing, STOP and Show This Message

🔐 Hetzner API Token Required

I need your Hetzner API token to provision infrastructure.

How to get it:

1. Go to: https://console.hetzner.cloud/
2. Click on your project (or create one)
3. Navigate to: Security → API Tokens
4. Click "Generate API Token"
5. Give it a name (e.g., "specweave-deployment")
6. Permissions: Read & Write
7. Click "Generate"
8. Copy the token immediately (you can't see it again!)

Where I'll save it:

• File: .env (gitignored, secure)
• Format: HETZNER_API_TOKEN=your-token-here

Security: ✅ .env is in .gitignore (never committed to git) ✅ Token is 64 characters, alphanumeric ✅ Stored locally only (not in source code)

Please paste your Hetzner API token:

Step 3: Validate Token Format

Hetzner tokens are 64 alphanumeric characters

if [[ ! "$HETZNER_API_TOKEN" =~ ^[a-zA-Z0-9]{64}$ ]]; then echo "⚠️ Warning: Token format unexpected" echo "Expected: 64 alphanumeric characters" echo "Got: ${#HETZNER_API_TOKEN} characters" echo "" echo "This might not be a valid Hetzner API token." echo "Continue anyway? (yes/no)" fi

Step 4: Save Token Securely

Save to .env

echo "HETZNER_API_TOKEN=$HETZNER_API_TOKEN" >> .env

Ensure .env is gitignored

if ! grep -q "^.env$" .gitignore; then echo ".env" >> .gitignore fi

Create .env.example for team

cat > .env.example << 'EOF'

Hetzner Cloud API Token

Get from: https://console.hetzner.cloud/ → Security → API Tokens

HETZNER_API_TOKEN=your-hetzner-token-here EOF

echo "✅ Token saved to .env (gitignored)" echo "✅ Created .env.example for team (commit this)"

Step 5: Use Token in Terraform

terraform/variables.tf

variable "hetzner_token" { description = "Hetzner Cloud API Token" type = string sensitive = true }

terraform/provider.tf

provider "hcloud" { token = var.hetzner_token }

Run Terraform

export TF_VAR_hetzner_token=$HETZNER_API_TOKEN

terraform apply

Example Usage

User: "Deploy my NextJS app on Hetzner with Postgres, as cheaply as possible"

hetzner-provisioner:

I'll provision your NextJS app on Hetzner Cloud for ~$12/month.

Infrastructure:

• CX11 instance (2 vCPU, 2GB RAM): $5.83/month
• Managed Postgres (2GB): $5.00/month
• 20GB storage: $0.50/month
• SSL (Let's Encrypt): Free
• Total: ~$11.33/month

Creating Terraform configuration...

✅ Generated files:

• terraform/main.tf
• terraform/variables.tf
• terraform/outputs.tf
• .github/workflows/deploy.yml

Next steps:

1. Set HETZNER_API_TOKEN in GitHub secrets
2. Push to GitHub
3. GitHub Actions will deploy automatically

Deployment URL: https://your-app.yourdomain.com (after DNS configured)

Configuration

Supports multiple instance types:

• CX11 (1 vCPU, 2GB RAM): $5.83/month - Small apps, 100-1000 users

• CX21 (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM): $6.90/month - Medium apps, 1000-10000 users

• CX31 (2 vCPU, 8GB RAM): $14.28/month - Larger apps, 10000+ users

Database options:

• Managed Postgres (2GB): $5/month

• Managed MySQL (2GB): $5/month

• Self-hosted (included in instance cost)

Cost Comparison

Platform Small App Medium App Large App

Hetzner $12/mo $15/mo $25/mo

Vercel $60/mo $120/mo $240/mo

AWS $25/mo $80/mo $200/mo

Railway $20/mo $50/mo $100/mo

Savings: 50-80% vs alternatives

Technical Details

Terraform Provider: hetznercloud/hcloud

API: Hetzner Cloud API v1 Regions: Nuremberg, Falkenstein, Helsinki (Germany/Finland) Deployment: Docker + GitHub Actions Monitoring: Uptime Kuma (self-hosted, free)

Integration

Works with:

• cost-optimizer

• Recommends Hetzner when budget-conscious

• devops-agent

• Strategic infrastructure planning

• nextjs-agent

• NextJS-specific deployment

• Any backend framework (Node.js, Python, Go, etc.)

Limitations

• EU-only data centers (GDPR-friendly)

• Requires Hetzner Cloud account

• Manual DNS configuration needed

• Not suitable for multi-region deployments (use AWS/GCP for that)

Future Enhancements

• Kubernetes support (k3s on Hetzner)

• Load balancer configuration

• Multi-region deployment

• Disaster recovery setup