Your server. Your data. Your control.

Lightbulb automates deployment into your cloud account. We never own your infrastructure - here's exactly what access we need and why.

DigitalOcean API token

You provide a DigitalOcean personal access token so Lightbulb can create and manage Droplets on your behalf.

Stored Encrypted at rest
Used for Creating servers, reading server status
Not used for Accessing your data, billing, account management
Revocable Delete the token in DigitalOcean at any time - existing servers keep running

GitHub repository access

To deploy your app, Lightbulb clones the GitHub repository URL you provide. Public repos require no authentication. Private repos (Pro plan and above) require a GitHub token.

Stored Encrypted at rest (private repos only)
Used for Cloning the repo at deploy time
Not used for Pushing to repos, reading other repos, retaining code
Revocable Delete the token from your GitHub settings at any time

SSH access to your servers

During onboarding, you provide your SSH public key. Lightbulb installs it on every server you provision, giving you direct SSH access to your own infrastructure at any time. Lightbulb also maintains a separate deployment key for provisioning and app deployment operations.

Used for Deploying apps, configuring Nginx, running Shiny Server commands
Stored Your public key only - your private key never leaves your machine
Inspectable Both keys visible in your DigitalOcean dashboard under SSH keys
Revocable Remove Lightbulb's deployment key from your server at any time - apps keep running

What Lightbulb doesn't touch

Your app data or user data
DigitalOcean billing or account settings beyond Droplets
Any repos not explicitly provided by you
Servers you haven't provisioned through Lightbulb

Your server is yours

Once provisioned, your DigitalOcean Droplet is a standard Ubuntu server in your own account. Lightbulb is a deployment tool, not a hosting provider. You retain full ownership and visibility of your infrastructure and can SSH into it, inspect every running process, or destroy it from your DigitalOcean dashboard at any time.

Questions? Email security@lightbulb.is