DevOps & Infrastructure

DigitalOcean Droplets

Create and manage DigitalOcean Droplets with automated provisioning, firewall rules, and deployment scripts using doctl CLI.

Claude Code Codex Cursor

Overview

DigitalOcean Droplets are Linux-based virtual machines that offer a simpler, more developer-friendly alternative to AWS EC2. With predictable pricing and an intuitive API, Droplets are popular for web application hosting, development environments, and small-to-medium production deployments. AI agents can create Droplets, configure firewalls, write user data scripts, and automate deployment workflows using the doctl CLI.

AI coding agents work well with DigitalOcean because doctl commands are straightforward and the API is well-documented. Your agent can create Droplets with the right size and region, configure cloud firewalls with precise port rules, write cloud-init user data scripts for automated provisioning, and set up SSH keys for secure access. The agent can also manage snapshots for backup and recovery, configure floating IPs for failover, and set up monitoring alerts.

For developers who find AWS overwhelming, DigitalOcean provides a focused set of services that cover most deployment needs. Your AI agent can set up the complete stack: create a Droplet, configure the firewall, install Nginx or Caddy, deploy your application with PM2 or systemd, and set up automated backups, all from simple conversational commands.

Who Is This For?

Developers creating and provisioning VPS instances for web hosting
DevOps engineers automating Droplet creation with user data scripts
Teams configuring DigitalOcean firewalls for production security
Solo developers setting up affordable production environments

Installation

Setup for Claude Code

Install doctl: brew install doctl
doctl auth init
Claude Code runs doctl compute commands directly

Configuration

# Create a Droplet
doctl compute droplet create my-app \
  --image ubuntu-24-04-x64 \
  --size s-1vcpu-1gb \
  --region nyc1 \
  --ssh-keys $(doctl compute ssh-key list --format ID --no-header) \
  --user-data-file cloud-init.yml \
  --wait

# Configure firewall
doctl compute firewall create --name my-app-fw \
  --inbound-rules "protocol:tcp,ports:22,address:0.0.0.0/0 protocol:tcp,ports:80,address:0.0.0.0/0 protocol:tcp,ports:443,address:0.0.0.0/0"