Heroku Basics Cheat Sheet

Covers Heroku's dyno model, Procfile configuration, add-ons, and core CLI commands for deploying and scaling applications.

1 PageBeginnerFeb 8, 2026

Core Concepts

Heroku's application deployment model.

Dyno- A lightweight container that runs your app's processes (web, worker, etc.)
Procfile- Declares process types and the command to start each one
Buildpack- Detects your app's language and prepares it to run (e.g. heroku/nodejs)
Add-on- Managed third-party service (Postgres, Redis, logging) attached to your app
Config Vars- Environment variables set per app, accessible at runtime
Release Phase- An optional process type run before a new release goes live, e.g. migrations

Procfile Example

Defines a web process and a background worker.

text

web: node server.jsworker: node worker.jsrelease: node migrate.js

Heroku CLI Basics

Common commands for deploying and operating an app.

bash

heroku login                          # authenticateheroku create my-app                  # create a new appgit push heroku main                  # deploy via githeroku ps:scale web=2 worker=1        # scale dynosheroku config:set API_KEY=abc123      # set a config varheroku logs --tail                    # stream logsheroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:mini  # add a Postgres add-on

Pro Tip

Free and eco dynos sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity, adding cold-start latency to the next request — use a paid dyno type or an external uptime pinger for anything user-facing that needs consistent response times.

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