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Running Retype inside a Docker container gives you a reproducible build environment and makes it straightforward to deploy to any container-based hosting platform. Advantages of using Docker include:
  • Portability — move between hosting environments without reconfiguring build tools
  • Scalability — deploy to Heroku, Amazon ECS, Google Cloud Run, or any OCI-compatible runtime
  • Security — isolated build environment with no host dependencies

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Step 1: Add a Dockerfile

Create a Dockerfile at the root of your project. The following example uses a multi-stage build: the first stage installs Retype and builds the site, and the second stage produces a minimal Apache HTTP server image containing only the built output.
Dockerfile
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:9.0 AS builder
WORKDIR /build
COPY . /build
RUN dotnet tool install retypeapp --tool-path /bin
RUN retype build --output .docker-build/

FROM httpd:latest
COPY --from=builder /build/.docker-build/ /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/
The multi-stage build ensures that the final image contains only the static HTML/CSS/JS output and the Apache server — the .NET SDK and Retype tooling are discarded.
Most cloud platforms (Heroku, ECS, Cloud Run) can build the Docker image on their own from the Dockerfile. Consult your platform’s documentation for details — you may not need to build or push the image manually.

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Step 2: Build the image

Build the image locally using the Docker CLI: 
docker build -t myorg/myapplication:latest .
To verify the build succeeded, run the container locally and open your browser: 
docker run --rm -p 8080:80 myorg/myapplication:latest
The site will be available at http://localhost:8080.

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Step 3: Publish the image

After a successful local build, push the image to a container registry. Docker Hub provides free public repositories: 
docker push myorg/myapplication:latest
See the Docker Hub documentation for instructions on creating a repository and authenticating.
For private registries or cloud-native registries (Amazon ECR, Google Artifact Registry, GitHub Container Registry), consult the relevant platform documentation for the correct docker login and docker push commands.

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Using Docker in CI/CD

You can integrate the Docker build into a GitHub Actions workflow to automatically build and publish the image on every push:
.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
name: Build and publish Docker image

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Log in to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_PASSWORD }}

      - name: Build and push
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: myorg/myapplication:latest
Store your Docker Hub credentials as encrypted secrets in your repository settings (DOCKER_USERNAME and DOCKER_PASSWORD).

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Other hosting options

GitHub Pages

Deploy to GitHub Pages for free using the Retype Build Action.

Netlify

Deploy to Netlify with automatic builds from your Git repository.

Cloudflare Pages

Host on Cloudflare Pages with global CDN and DDoS protection.