Create template deployment
POSThttps://api.instacloud.com/projects/{projectId}/template-deployments
Token scope: account · org · project — read-only tokens refused (not a GET).
Deploy a template onto a branch (async — poll GET /template-deployments/:id). Omit branch/branchId for a fresh branch named after the template. Deploying the same template into a branch that already runs it builds an INDEPENDENT copy — its services are named <name>-2, <name>-3 … and the existing copy is untouched — so the names in the response need not match the manifest. Gated — service.add + secrets.write + deploy, plus service.upgrade when the manifest declares a volume and service.setAccess when it declares a public bucket. Idempotent per (deploymentId, manifest): duplicate/mid-run re-invokes answer 202 with the current row.
Parameters
| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
projectId | path | string | yes |
Request body
application/json
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
templateCode | string | no | a published registry code (see GET /templates); mutually implied with manifest — one of the two is required |
code | string | no | alias of templateCode |
templateVersion | string | no | optional pin; 404s when the registry serves a different version |
manifest | any | no | inline insta.template.yaml for a local-manifest deploy — the YAML text, or the parsed JSON document |
branchId | string | no | |
branch | string | no | branch NAME (alias of branchId). Omit both for a fresh branch named after the template code |
variables | object | no | deploy-time variable values (required/optional env vars declared by the manifest) |
deploymentId | string | no | idempotent retry: resume THIS deployment (same services, no duplicates) instead of starting a new one |
region | string | no | InstaCloud region slug for EVERY service this deployment creates (see GET /regions). Default: the platform default region. Part of the deployment identity: a retry may omit it or repeat it, a different value is refused with 409. |
Responses
202
accepted (deploymentId + deployment to poll) — or approval_required from the governance gate
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
deploymentId | string | no | present when the deployment was accepted |
deployment | object | no | One server-side template deployment run and its progress. |
deployment.id | string | no | |
deployment.status | "running" | "succeeded" | "failed" | "partial" | no | partial = some services came up healthy, others failed — created resources are kept either way |
deployment.step | "create_services" | "write_variables" | "deploy" | "health_check" | no | the pipeline step the run is currently on (or stopped at) |
deployment.templateCode | string | no | |
deployment.templateVersion | string | no | |
deployment.projectId | string | no | |
deployment.branchId | string | no | |
deployment.region | string | no | InstaCloud region slug every service of this deployment was created in. Deployments recorded before regions were recorded read as the platform default. |
deployment.services | object[] | no | |
deployment.services.name | string | no | the service's actual name on the branch, which is the manifest's name only for the first copy — a second deployment of the same template into the same branch names its services <name>-2 and leaves the first copy alone |
deployment.services.serviceId | string | no | |
deployment.services.url | string | no | |
deployment.services.state | "pending" | "created" | "deployed" | "healthy" | "failed" | no | |
deployment.services.skipped | boolean | no | an upgrade stepped over this service because the user had deleted it — the run never touched it, serviceId points at the deleted row, and state stays pending however the deployment ends. Not "still in progress" |
deployment.error | string | no | |
deployment.logsTail | string | no | container log tail captured when a service never became healthy |
deployment.rollbackTo | object | no | the version one step back, present only when this deployment was produced by an upgrade: what POST .../rollback would return the instance to. Absent on a first deploy, once the predecessor is gone, and on a deployment a ROLLBACK produced — that row's step back is the newer version it just left, which is offered as the update, not as a way back. Present is not a promise it will succeed — a version whose manifest is no longer recorded, or was republished with different content, still refuses at click time |
deployment.rollbackTo.version | string | yes | |
deployment.createdAt | string | no | |
status | "approval_required" | no | |
approvalId | string | no | |
action | string | no | the gated action, or a comma-joined compound set — prefer `actions` |
actions | string[] | no | every capability this approval covers |
message | string | no | |
url | string | no | the console page where a project admin reviews this request |
nextActions | object[] | no | |
nextActions.op | string | yes | Neutral logical action id, e.g. "service.add" — NOT an operationId or a CLI/MCP tool name; each client maps it to its own surface. |
nextActions.reason | string | yes | Natural-language, human/LLM-facing "why do this now". |
nextActions.args | object | no | Suggested, flat named arguments; "<placeholder>"s where a value is unknown. |
nextActions.gated | boolean | no | True if the action passes a governance gate. |
400
Default Response
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
error | string | yes | |
missing | object[] | no | error='missing_variables': the required variables that resolved to no value |
missing.name | string | yes | |
missing.key | string | yes | |
missing.description | string | no |
403
Default Response
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
error | string | yes |
404
Default Response
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
error | string | yes |
409
the run is still in progress; the branch already holds the maximum number of copies of this template; or a service name is too long to suffix for another copy. Also code template_version_changed: the template was republished since it was read, fetch it again.
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
error | string | yes | |
code | string | no | stable machine-readable reason, e.g. private_lane_disabled, private_lane_unavailable_in_region, public_access_closed, credential_change_in_progress |
429
Default Response
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
error | string | yes |