EmDash Hosting Live In 5 Minutes

Deploy EmDash hosting and run your own self-hosted Astro CMS on a dedicated Cloud VPS, with no Docker to touch. xCloud starts the pinned EmDash 1.1.0 container with its Blog theme, keeps the SQLite database and media uploads on persistent volumes, generates the encryption key and serves the site over HTTPS on your domain, so you only open the admin URL and register a passkey.

Deploy your EmDash

No terminal
No technical skills needed
No lock-in, cancel anytime

What is EmDash?

EmDash is a full-stack TypeScript CMS built on Astro that takes the ideas that made WordPress dominant, extensibility, admin UX and a plugin ecosystem, and rebuilds them on type-safe foundations, with plugins run in sandboxed isolates. Run on your own server it is a self-hosted EmDash CMS and the alternative to a hosted headless service such as Contentful. It is released under the MIT licence.

On xCloud it is one container, ghcr.io/neobuilds/emdash 1.1.0, an independently published build pinned by digest rather than an upstream image. SQLite and sessions sit on emdash_data, media on emdash_uploads, and an encryption key is generated. HTTPS is served on your domain, and the first passkey registered owns the site. SMTP, OAuth and external storage are not preconfigured.

From Sign-Up to a Live EmDash In Just 3 Easy Steps

An EmDash site normally means a Node container, a SQLite data directory, an uploads folder, an encryption key, a domain and a certificate before the first post. This is the same result without assembling any of it.

Step 01
Sign Up
Create your xCloud account and pick EmDash from the OneClick catalog. Choose a domain and a server; the install form has no application fields to fill in.
Step 02
We Deploy It For You
One click. We start the ghcr.io/neobuilds/emdash 1.1.0 image, pinned by digest, mount emdash_data for SQLite and sessions and emdash_uploads for media, generate the encryption key, and publish it over HTTPS.
Step 03
Claim The Site With A Passkey
Open the /_emdash/admin URL straight away, choose the site title, enter your administrator identity and register a passkey. Whoever finishes setup first becomes the owner, so do not share the link before then.

Everything EmDash Does, On Your Own Server

EmDash 1.1.0 runs here as one container whose database, sessions and media sit on volumes you own.

Astro Blog Theme
The image carries the upstream Blog theme, a classic blog with categories, tags, full-text search and an RSS feed, built on Astro.
Passkey Sign-In
The first owner registers a passkey over HTTPS; no shared default password is created, so there is no credential to leak from a template.
Local Media Storage
Uploaded media is written to the emdash_uploads volume on your own server, with no external object storage to set up.
Sandboxed Plugins
Plugins run in a workerd child process, not directly on the host. Installing one still grants what it declares, so review its permissions.
SQLite Database
Content lives in a SQLite database on the emdash_data volume, so there is no separate database server to run or secure.
Generated Encryption Key
xCloud generates a 32-byte key that protects encrypted plugin settings. Keep it unchanged and back it up apart from the data.

Everything You Need To Run Your Astro CMS 24/7

Managed hosting for EmDash, so the parts that keep it online are not your problem.

EmDash 1.1.0 deployed instantly
Image pinned by digest
Passkey sign-in, no default password
Encryption key generated for you
Free SSL certificate
Server backups and snapshots
Server security updates included
30+ server locations
Unused balance refunded

What You Can Do With EmDash

Run EmDash CMS hosting for a blog
Publish posts on the Blog theme with categories, tags, search and an RSS feed, on a site whose database and media stay on your own server.
Replace a hosted headless CMS
Move editorial content off a hosted service and keep it in SQLite on a volume you back up, while editors work in the EmDash admin.
Give editors passkey-only access
Register passkeys for administrators instead of sharing passwords, so signing in to the admin needs the device the passkey lives on.
Extend the site with sandboxed plugins
Add plugins that run in a workerd child process, reviewing each plugin's declared permissions before you install it.

EmDash vs Alternatives

WordPress: A PHP CMS with its own plugin ecosystem; EmDash is a TypeScript CMS on Astro whose plugins run in sandboxed isolates, and its README sets out to rebuild WordPress's ideas on those foundations.
Contentful: A hosted headless CMS run by its vendor; with EmDash on xCloud the content sits in SQLite and an uploads volume on your own server instead.
Ghost: A publishing platform for posts, memberships and newsletters, available as its own OneClick app; EmDash is an Astro CMS with a Blog theme and plugins.
Directus: A database-first open-source backend with an administration studio and APIs, also a OneClick app; EmDash keeps content in SQLite behind an Astro site.

Ready To Run Your Own Astro CMS?

EmDash on xCloud runs on a dedicated Cloud VPS that we provision, patch, monitor and restore. Deploy faster. Own your data. Stay in control.

Fast Provisioning
Deploy faster using an xCloud Managed Server built with optimized stacks and high-speed SSDs.
Enterprise-grade security
Protect your infrastructure with a free SSL certificate and more advanced security features at no additional cost.
Intuitive Control Panel
From Server creation to application deployment, everything can be managed from our intuitive control panel.

Hear what people are saying about us

See why agencies, developers, startups, and growing businesses choose xCloud to power their projects.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

How do I self-host EmDash with Docker?

This template is EmDash Docker hosting without the compose file: one ghcr.io/neobuilds/emdash 1.1.0 container pinned by digest, with the emdash_data and emdash_uploads volumes and an HTTPS route. The image is independently packaged, not an upstream-official image.

Does EmDash work with Astro?

Yes. EmDash is built on Astro, and this image runs Astro's standalone Node HTTP server with the upstream Blog theme. The theme and templates live in the image, not the volumes, so custom theme source needs your own derived image.

How do I sign in to EmDash?

There is no default password. Open https://your-domain/_emdash/admin right after install, choose the site title, enter your administrator identity and register a passkey in a passkey-capable browser. The first person to finish setup becomes the owner.

Is EmDash a WordPress replacement?

Its README describes taking the ideas that made WordPress dominant, extensibility, admin UX and a plugin ecosystem, and rebuilding them on serverless, type-safe foundations. It is a different stack, TypeScript on Astro, so existing WordPress plugins and themes do not carry over.

Where does EmDash store uploaded media?

On the emdash_uploads volume, mounted at /app/uploads in the container, on your own server. No external object storage is preconfigured. SQLite data and sessions are separate, on emdash_data, so a media-only restore will not bring the posts back.

How much RAM does EmDash need?

The template manifest asks for 1024 MB of RAM, 1 CPU core and 5 GB of disk, which it calls a small-site starting point, not a load certification. This page sells the 6 GB tier; media and plugin workloads need more room.

How do I back up EmDash?

Stop the app, then archive both volumes, emdash_data and emdash_uploads, together. Also store the generated encryption key separately, because losing it makes encrypted plugin settings unreadable. Backups hold private content, passkeys and sessions, so encrypt them.

Backup and restore Docker apps

How do I update EmDash?

Nothing updates itself: the image is pinned by digest, and only new installs pick up a newer catalog version. Review the release notes, take a coordinated pre-upgrade backup of both volumes and the key, then redeploy. Rolling back the image cannot undo database migrations.

Is EmDash open source?

Yes. EmDash is released under the MIT licence, so the CMS costs nothing to run. Your plan pays for the server. The xCloud template runs an independently published image of the upstream release, not an image from the EmDash project itself.

Who owns the data on a hosted EmDash instance?

You do. The SQLite database, sessions and uploads sit on volumes on a server you pay for and control, and the encryption key is generated for your install. xCloud runs the server and deployment; the site and its content are yours.

Is this an EmDash cloud service?

Think of it as an EmDash cloud you own: one container on a dedicated Cloud VPS under your xCloud login, reachable at your domain, with no shared tenancy. Email-link sign-in and SMTP are not preconfigured, and plugins may need their own accounts or payments.

Can I cancel anytime?

Yes. There is no lock-in — cancel any time. Hosting is billed monthly and charged for what you actually use, so when you delete the server the unused balance is refunded to your account, less up to 10% in payment-processing fees.