NimbusLab: DIY PaaS on Proxmox

NimbusLab is a lightweight Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that enables developers to deploy applications directly from GitHub to Virtual Machines (VMs) or Linux Containers (LXCs) running on a Proxmox VE host.

Built with React, Python (Flask), and Terraform, NimbusLab automates the entire infrastructure provisioning and application deployment workflow.

🚀 Features

• One-Click Deployment: Deploy directly from any public GitHub repository.
• Infrastucture Choice: Choose between LXC containers (for speed) or full VMs (for isolation).
• Automated Provisioning: Uses Terraform to spin up infrastructure on Proxmox.
• Dynamic Dockerization: Automatically generates Dockerfiles based on the selected framework.
• Real-time Logs: Stream deployment logs directly to the browser.
• Theming: Sleek Dark/Light mode design.

🏗️ Architecture

graph TD
    User([User]) --> Frontend[React Frontend]
    Frontend --> Backend[Flask Backend]
    Backend --> Terraform[Terraform Manager]
    Backend --> SSH[SSH/Paramiko]
    Terraform --> Proxmox[Proxmox VE]
    Proxmox --> VM[VM / LXC Container]
    SSH --> VM
    VM --> GitHub[GitHub Repo]
    VM --> Docker[Docker Container]

1. Frontend: A modern dashboard where users input their GitHub repo and choose infrastructure specs.
2. Backend: Orchestrates the deployment by triggering Terraform and managing SSH scripts.
3. Infrastructure: Terraform provisions the requested resources on Proxmox.
4. Deployment: Shell scripts are uploaded via SFTP and executed to install dependencies, clone the repo, and run the app inside Docker.

🛠️ Supported Frameworks

• React (Vite/CRA)
• Node.js
• Django
• Flask

🔧 Prerequisites

• Proxmox VE Server: Running and accessible via API.
• Terraform: Installed on the backend host.
• Proxmox Provider: Telmate/proxmox configured.
• Cloud-Init Images: Ubuntu cloud-init image present in Proxmox.

This project was analyzed and documented as part of a DevOps/PaaS research initiative.