BREAKING: Fly.io MINOR 🟡 Deploys defaulting to Fly-hosted Builders [ltkp5s03xr58]

Fly.io experiencing partial disruption: deploys defaulting to Fly-hosted Builders instead of respecting user configuration. Immediate workarounds for indie hackers inside.

INCIDENT: Fly.io Deploy Builder Configuration Issue

Status: MONITORING | Severity: MINOR 🟡 | Impact: Partial Disruption

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1) What's Down & Who's Affected

Fly.io is currently experiencing an issue where application deployments are defaulting to Fly-hosted Builders regardless of your fly.toml configuration settings.

Who this affects:

Developers using custom Dockerfile builders

Projects configured with remote builder services

Teams relying on specific builder environments for reproducible builds

Anyone whose builds require non-standard configurations

What still works:

Application runtime/serving (no downtime for deployed apps)

SSH access to machines

Most CLI operations

New deployments (they just use wrong builder)

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2) Immediate Workarounds (RIGHT NOW)

Option A: Force Local Builds

```bash fly deploy --local-only ``` This bypasses remote builders entirely and builds on your machine. Best for quick fixes.

Option B: Explicitly Specify Builder

```bash fly deploy --build-arg BUILDER=custom ``` Check your fly.toml for your configured builder name and reference it explicitly.

Option C: Temporarily Modify fly.toml

```toml [build] builder = "docker" # Force Docker directly dockerfile = "./Dockerfile" ``` Then deploy normally. Revert once issue resolves.

Option D: Use Fly.io CLI v0.x (if on newer)

Roll back to previous CLI version if you recently updated: ```bash fly version

If very recent, try: brew install flyctl@0.0.XXX (check docs)

```

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3) How to Check If You're Affected

Run a test deployment: ```bash fly deploy --dry-run ```

In output, look for:

Builder: fly (❌ affected—should show your configured builder)

Your custom builder name (✅ working normally)

Also check recent deploys: ```bash fly logs --instance=<machine-id> ```

Look for "using Fly builder" messages when you configured otherwise.

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4) Alternative Tools to Consider

If you need to switch temporarily:

| Tool | Best For | Setup Time | |------|----------|------------| | Railway | Node/Python/Go apps | ~5 min | | Render | Full-stack projects | ~10 min | | Heroku (paid) | Quick migration | ~5 min | | Docker Hub + EC2 | Full control, higher cost | ~30 min | | Vercel (frontend only) | Next.js, static | ~2 min |

For most indie projects, Railway is the fastest lateral move.

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5) How to Monitor Recovery

Official Channels:

Fly.io Status Page: https://status.fly.io/

Twitter: @flyio

Community Slack: #incidents channel

Automated Monitoring: ```bash watch -n 60 'fly deploy --dry-run | grep Builder' ``` This checks every 60 seconds.

Set Alerts:

Monitor your deployment logs for builder changes

Test with fly deploy --dry-run hourly

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What We Know

✅ Fly.io engineering team is aware ✅ Running applications are NOT affected ✅ This is a configuration/build-time issue only ✅ Workarounds are available immediately

ETA: Unknown (typically 1-4 hours for builder issues)

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Action Items

1. Right now: Test with fly deploy --dry-run to confirm you're affected 2. If affected: Use fly deploy --local-only to unblock 3. Document: Note what builder you expected; you'll need this when reverting 4. Wait: Monitor status page; issue should self-resolve 5. After resolution: Resume normal deploys; no cleanup needed

Questions? Reply in comments. Most indie hackers won't see production impact—this is a build workflow issue. Stay calm, use workarounds.