Applications
Creating and managing applications in OrcaCD
An Application in OrcaCD represents a Docker Compose deployment. It links a repository (and a specific branch and file path) to an Agent, which runs the actual containers.
Creating an Application
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Navigate to the Applications page and click Add Application.
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Fill in the required fields:
Field Description Name Display name for the application Repository The repository containing the Compose file Branch The branch to track (e.g., main,production)Path Path to the docker-compose.ymlinside the repository (e.g.,apps/myapp/docker-compose.yml)Agent The agent that will execute the deployment -
Click Create.
OrcaCD will immediately sync the repository and deploy the Compose file to the selected Agent.
Application Status
Each application shows two status indicators:
Sync Status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Synced | Deployed commit matches the latest repository commit |
Out Of Sync | A new commit exists that has not been deployed yet |
Syncing | A deployment is currently in progress |
Unknown | No deployment has been triggered yet |
Health Status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Healthy | All containers from the Compose file are running |
Unhealthy | One or more containers are stopped or in a bad state |
Unknown | Health has not been checked yet |
Triggering a Deployment
OrcaCD automatically deploys when the tracked repository branch receives a new commit (depending on the repository sync strategy). You can also trigger a deployment manually:
- Open the application.
- Click Deploy in the top-right corner.
This forces an immediate sync and deployment regardless of the current sync status.
Application Settings
Open an application and navigate to the Settings tab to configure it.
General
Change the application name, icon, linked repository, branch, path, or agent.
Image Polling
Image polling lets OrcaCD automatically pull updated Docker images and restart containers, even when no Compose file has changed. This is useful for continuous delivery workflows where a CI pipeline pushes new image tags.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable image polling | Turns image polling on or off |
| Polling interval | How often to check for new images (minimum 30 seconds, default 120 seconds) |
| Delete old images | When enabled, old images are removed from the host after a successful update |
Image Pull Webhooks
Instead of polling, you can trigger an image pull from your container registry via a webhook. This is ideal for registry-side push notifications.
- Open the application settings.
- In the Image Pull Webhook section, click Generate Webhook.
- OrcaCD returns a webhook URL and secret.
- Register this webhook in your container registry (e.g., Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry, Harbor).
When the registry sends a push event to the webhook URL, OrcaCD instructs the Agent to pull the latest image and restart the affected container.
The Agent must be online for the image pull webhook to succeed. If the Agent is offline, the event is not queued.
To revoke a webhook and generate a new one, click Revoke Webhook and then Generate Webhook again.
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