Deploy a Windsurf App with Hostman App Platform

Windsurf and its Cascade AI make it fast to build anything — from a simple landing page to a full web service. But once your project is ready, the next question is always the same: how do you actually put it on the internet?

This guide walks you through the full deployment workflow: setting up GitHub, connecting it to Windsurf via MCP, pushing your project to a repository, and deploying it on Hostman App Platform. By the end, you'll have a live public URL and a setup where future updates publish automatically with just a message to Cascade.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• A project in Windsurf. Any app you've built and want to publish.
• A Hostman account. Sign up at hostman.com if needed.

Step 1. Set Up Your GitHub Account

GitHub stores your source code and connects your project to Hostman. If you already have an account, skip ahead to Step 2.

1. Go to github.com and click Sign up.
2. Register with your Google account, Apple ID, or an email address.

Once you're in, you'll land on your GitHub Dashboard.

Step 2. Create a Personal Access Token

To let Cascade interact with GitHub on your behalf, you need a Personal Access Token. With it, Windsurf can create repositories, commit code, push changes, and manage your projects, all from the chat window.

To create a token:

1. In the top-right corner of GitHub, click your avatar and go to Settings.
2. Scroll down in the left sidebar and open Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic).
3. Click Generate new token → Generate new token (classic). GitHub may ask for your password or a confirmation code, that's a standard security check.
4. In the Note field, give your token a name (anything descriptive works, for example, windsurf-app).
5. In the Expiration field, choose how long the token should stay valid. You can set it to No expiration so that you don't have to redo this.
6. Set the required permissions. For MCP, you need:
   • repo: full access to repositories
   • user: read access to your profile
   • admin:org: only if you're working with organization repositories
   • delete_repo: optional, if you want to delete repositories via MCP
     

Only grant the permissions you actually need. Giving a token full access when it doesn't need it is a security risk.

7. Click Generate token.

Important: GitHub shows your token only once. Copy it immediately and store it somewhere safe (a password manager works well). This token grants access to your account; if you think it's been compromised, revoke it at github.com/settings/tokens and generate a new one.

Step 3. Configure the GitHub MCP Server in Windsurf

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets Cascade interact with external services directly. Once GitHub is connected, you can create repos, commit code, and push changes, all from a chat message, without touching the terminal.

To connect GitHub:

1. In Windsurf, go to Preferences → Windsurf Settings → Cascade → Open MCP Registry.
2. Click the gear icon and paste in the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "YOUR_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Replace YOUR_TOKEN with the token you created in the previous step.
4. Press File → Save.
5. Fully close Windsurf and relaunch it. A full restart is required for the MCP server to become active.

After restarting, the GitHub server should appear with a status of Enabled. To confirm everything is working, ask Cascade in chat: What GitHub MCP tools are currently available?

If Cascade lists a set of tools, the integration is working correctly.

Step 4. Push Your Project to GitHub

With MCP connected, you can push your app to GitHub directly from Windsurf's chat.

Start by creating a repository: "Create a public repository called hostman-windsurf-app in my GitHub account."

When Cascade will ask for confirmation before taking action, approve it. The new repository will appear in your GitHub account.

Then push your project's code to the repository: "Upload the current project to this repository using GitHub MCP."

If your project isn't in the root folder, you can specify the directory in your message. Cascade will handle the rest.

Step 5. Deploy on Hostman App Platform

With your code on GitHub, you're ready to deploy.

1. Open the Hostman dashboard → App Platform → Create.
2. Choose your app type: Frontend, Backend, or Docker, then select the framework your project uses.

Not sure about your stack? Ask Cascade: "What framework is this project using?"

3. Connect your GitHub repository:

• • On the Repository step, click the GitHub icon.
  • Sign in and authorize access.
  • Select your repository from the list.

If the repository doesn't appear, click Add Account, re-authorize, and try again.

Keep Build by the last executed commit enabled. This tells Hostman to automatically redeploy whenever you push new changes to GitHub.

4. Select a deployment region.
5. Configure your app settings. The required fields depend on your project type. If you're unsure what to fill in, ask Cascade to explain what's needed for your specific setup. Here's our platform-specific docs: Frontend · Backend · Dockerfile · Docker Compose.
6. Click Order and wait for the deployment to complete.

You're Live!

Once deployment finishes, Hostman assigns your app a public domain. Find it in Dashboard → Domain. That's your app's URL—share it right away.

Want to use your own domain? Go to Settings to configure it.

After the initial setup, deploying changes is as simple as:

 

1. Make changes to your project in Windsurf.
2. Ask Cascade to push them to GitHub.
3. Hostman picks up the new commit and redeploys automatically.

 

You can manage your entire publish workflow through AI—no manual git commands required.