lift scale

Scale your application up or down. Show current replica count if no argument provided.

Usage

lift scale <app-name> [replicas]

Options

Rules

• Replicas: 1-10 for both Docker and Compose modes.
• Docker mode: Multi-replica requires a domain (Traefik load balancing).
• Compose mode: container_name in compose file blocks scaling above 1.
• A pre-flight RAM capacity check runs before scaling up (use --force to skip).
• Config is automatically updated after successful scaling.

Examples

# Show current replicas
$ lift scale myapp
myapp: 2 replica(s) running

# Scale up to 3 replicas
$ lift scale myapp 3
Scaled myapp to 3 replica(s)

# Scale down to 1
$ lift scale myapp 1
Scaled down to 1 replica(s)

# Scale with force (skip capacity check)
$ lift scale myapp 5 --force
Scaled myapp to 5 replica(s)

# Scale a specific compose service
$ lift scale myapp 2 --service worker
Scaled worker to 2 replica(s)

Scaling Marketplace Tools

Marketplace tools (PostgreSQL, n8n, Grafana, etc.) can also be scaled directly from the CLI using the --path flag, which points to the tool's install directory:

# Scale a marketplace tool to 2 replicas
lift scale postgresql 2 --path /opt/onelift/tools/postgresql

# Scale a specific service within a multi-service tool
lift scale strapi 3 --path /opt/onelift/tools/strapi --service app

# Show current replica count for a marketplace tool
lift scale postgresql --path /opt/onelift/tools/postgresql

You can also scale marketplace tools from the OneLift dashboard under the tool's settings panel — no CLI needed.

Load Balancing

When running multiple replicas, Traefik uses round-robin with sticky sessions. A cookie (onelift_instance) pins each visitor to a specific replica, preventing session loss for stateful apps. Different visitors are distributed across replicas.

See Replicas & Scaling for details.

Related

• lift capacity - Check server resources before scaling
• lift limit - Set memory/CPU limits per container
• lift autoscale - Configure automatic scaling
• lift update - Update a marketplace tool to a newer version
• lift push - Deploy your application