# How a deployment works (/guides/how-deployments-work)



This page explains what the platform does with a deployment, so the statuses
and failures you see make sense. For fixes, see
[Troubleshoot common problems](/troubleshooting); for money, see
[How billing works](/guides/how-billing-works).

## What you ask for [#what-you-ask-for]

A deployment starts from a service definition: an image (or a template that
provides one), the port it listens on, CPU, memory and storage, an optional
GPU, a region or "Any", whether it must run confidentially, its environment
variables, and a spend control. The web app and the CLI collect the same
fields; templates pre-fill most of them and list the variables they need.

## Placement [#placement]

Alternate Clouds does not own servers. It runs a marketplace: your request is
published to a network of independent providers, providers that can meet it
respond with offers, and the platform picks one.

* **Region** narrows the offers to `us-east`, `us-west`, `eu`, or `asia`.
  "Any" accepts the cheapest offer worldwide.
* **Resources and GPU model** decide who can bid at all. The rarer the
  request, the fewer offers, and the longer the wait. `acc regions` shows
  availability and price before you commit.
* **Time.** Most deployments have a provider within a few minutes. One that
  makes no progress for about 25 minutes is marked failed automatically and is
  not charged.

Until an offer is accepted you see the deployment as created, then waiting for
offers, then selecting a provider.

## Start [#start]

The chosen provider pulls the image and starts the container with your
environment variables. Two things go wrong here more than anywhere else:

* **The image cannot be pulled.** Wrong name or tag, or a private image (images
  on GitHub Container Registry are private by default).
* **A moving tag.** Providers cache images by tag. `latest` or `main` keeps
  serving whatever was cached, so the platform refuses those two when you
  change a service's image. Use versioned tags such as `myimage:1.4.2`.

When the container is up, the deployment becomes **active**.

## Live [#live]

* **URL.** Each service gets `https://<slug>-app.alternatefutures.ai`. The
  platform's proxy maps it to the current active deployment, so the address
  survives redeploys.
* **Logs and shell.** `acc services logs <id>` and `acc ssh <id>` go straight
  to the running container.
* **Redeploying** creates a new deployment and closes the previous one. The
  service, its URL, and its settings stay; only the running instance changes.

## Where billing touches a deployment [#where-billing-touches-a-deployment]

* **Before placement**, the platform checks that your organization's credits
  cover at least one hour of everything you would be running, and refuses the
  deploy if not.
* **While active**, usage is metered per hour and paid from the credit wallet.
* **If credits run low**, services are suspended (not deleted) and resume on
  their own after a topup.
* **Spend controls** you set on the service stop it on their own: a total or
  monthly budget cap, or an auto-stop timer. The stop reason is recorded and
  shown by `acc services info`.

## Confidential deployments [#confidential-deployments]

With `--confidential`, the platform only accepts offers from providers whose
hardware runs the container inside a trusted execution environment (TEE): an
isolated part of the processor whose memory the host cannot read. The hardware
produces a signed statement of exactly what is running. `acc attest <id>`
fetches it, and `acc attest <id> --verify` checks it against the chip vendor's
roots on your machine, so trust does not depend on the provider or on us.

## Statuses in one place [#statuses-in-one-place]

| You see                                           | Meaning                                                                    |
| ------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Created, waiting for offers, selecting a provider | Placement in progress.                                                     |
| Deploying                                         | A provider accepted and is starting the container.                         |
| Active                                            | Running and reachable at its URL. Billing is on.                           |
| Failed                                            | Placement or start did not succeed. Not billed. Check `acc services logs`. |
| Suspended                                         | Paused because credits ran low. Resumes after a topup.                     |
| Closed                                            | Stopped by you, by a redeploy, or by a spend control.                      |

## Next steps [#next-steps]

* [Quick start](/guides/quickstart)
* [Troubleshoot common problems](/troubleshooting)
* [How billing works](/guides/how-billing-works)