Solo and shared
Solo and shared are management topologies, not separate deployment systems.
Solo is the smallest useful expression of devopsellence:
- desired state lives in local state and files;
- SSH reaches the node;
- secrets are local values or local references;
- status is inspectable with local commands and ordinary tools.
Use solo when one human or trusted AI operator owns the deployment loop.
Shared
Section titled “Shared”Shared moves coordination out of the local machine:
- releases, projects, environments, and nodes belong to a control plane;
- images, desired state, and secrets use shared infrastructure primitives;
- API tokens and team workflows become possible;
- the node agent still reconciles desired state.
Use shared when coordination, audit, auth, or teams matter more than the shortest local path.