✨ Introduction
Refly is an open-source, self-hosted AI-powered writing assistant designed for bloggers, marketers, and teams. With real-time collaboration, multilingual support, document versioning, and a sleek Notion-style editor, Refly empowers you to write smarter and faster—without depending on third-party SaaS.
Using ClawCloud Run, you can deploy Refly in just a few clicks—completely free—with custom domain binding, HTTPS, and the flexibility to scale compute and storage resources as your team grows.
🧾 Prerequisites
- ClawCloud Account
Sign up at console.run.claw.cloud - GitHub Account (older than 180 days)
Required to activate ClawCloud’s $5/month forever-free credit - Optional: Domain Name
For using your own domain with HTTPS
🚀 Step-by-Step Deployment Guide
Step 1: Log in to ClawCloud Run
- Go to the ClawCloud Run Console and sign in
- You’ll be directed to the main dashboard
Step 2: Install Refly from the App Store
- In the dashboard, click “APP Store”
- Search for “Refly” in the App Store
- Click “Deploy APP”
ClawCloud will automatically provision a new app instance like
refly-xxxxxxxx, including the necessary backend and database components (e.g., PostgreSQL if needed).
Step 3: Access Your Refly Workspace
- In APP Launchpad, click Details next to your
refly-xxxxxxxxapplication - Navigate to the Network tab and locate the Public Address
- Click the public URL (e.g.
https://refly-abc123.ap-northeast-1.clawcloudrun.com) to access the Refly interface - Follow the onboarding instructions to create your workspace and admin account
⚠️ Note: It can take 5–8 minutes for the gateway and container to initialize.
⚙️ Customize & Scale Your Deployment
Once deployed, Refly can be tuned to meet your needs—from AI model configuration to resource upgrades.
Step 1: Click “Update” in App Settings
- Go to APP Launchpad > refly-xxxxxxxx > Update
1. Change Refly Version
- Under Image, modify the Image Name to specify a different version
Example:ghcr.io/refly-ai/refly:latest
2. Upgrade CPU & Memory
- Under Usage, drag the sliders to allocate more CPU and RAM
Useful if running multi-user collaboration or large content generation tasks
3. Add a Custom Domain (Optional)
- Point your domain’s CNAME record to the provided ClawCloud subdomain
- Under Network, click Custom Domain, and enter your domain
- Refly will be accessible at your domain with free HTTPS automatically issued
4. Expand Storage Capacity
- Under Local Storage, choose your volume and input the desired capacity
- Save changes, then click Update
Changes typically apply within 3–5 minutes
✅ What You Get with ClawCloud + Refly
- ✍️ AI-Powered Writing with full privacy and control
- 🌍 Multilingual, Markdown-friendly, and Real-time Editing
- 🔒 Free SSL, Custom Domain, and 100% self-hosted
- ⚡ Forever-Free Cloud Hosting with $5 monthly credit
- 📦 One-click Scaling for memory, CPU, or storage