The App Lifecycle
Learn how the orchestrator manages your container's availability, handling hibernation and automatic recovery.
The Challenge of Scale
Hosting Python web applications in isolated containers requires significant server RAM. If thousands of developers deploy applications simultaneously, keeping all of them running 24/7 would require an unsustainable amount of hardware.
To provide high-quality hosting to everyone, Python Online implements a tiered lifecycle model, using an automated "Janitor" to manage server memory.
Free Tier: Smart Hibernation
Applications hosted on the Free tier follow an Ephemeral Lifecycle. This model is ideal for testing concepts, personal APIs, portfolios, etc.
When you deploy a Free app, it launches immediately. However, to conserve resources across the cluster, the system employs a "Smart Hibernation" protocol. If your application does not receive active traffic for a period of time, the orchestrator will safely shut down your container, reclaiming the memory.
The Wake-Up Routing
Hibernation does not mean your site is offline or broken. Python Online's Edge Router maintains a persistent fallback route for your subdomain.
If a visitor attempts to access your sleeping application, the router intercepts the request and instantly serves a "Wake Up" screen. When the visitor clicks the button, the platform triggers a fast-boot sequence—re-spawning your container and redirecting the visitor to your live app in less than a second.
Pro Tier: Always-On Availability
Production applications cannot afford cold-start latency. When you upgrade to the Pro tier, your web application is granted Continuous Availability.
Because the resources for your app are strictly deducted from your personal 2GB Elastic Compute Pool, the system Janitor ignores your web container. It will never hibernate, and your users will never see a wake-up screen. The server stays live 24/7, ready to handle incoming traffic instantly.
If your Pro subscription expires or payment fails, your account reverts to the Free tier. The system Janitor will detect this change during its background sweeps and will automatically downgrade your Always-On web app to the standard Hibernation lifecycle.
Self-Healing & Bootstrap Recovery
Cloud infrastructure is occasionally subject to maintenance reboots, network glitches, or hardware failures. Python Online is built with a highly resilient Bootstrap Recovery Engine to ensure your downtime is minimal.
If our central server reboots, the orchestrator performs an immediate reconciliation upon waking up:
- It scans the database for all Pro-tier projects where the deployment status is "Live".
- It systematically reaches out to the distributed compute nodes.
- It automatically re-spawns your application containers and rebuilds the routing configuration, bringing your production app back online without requiring you to log in and click "Restart".
Free tier ephemeral apps are discarded during a server reboot and will naturally return to the "Sleeping" state until the next visitor wakes them up.