In this blog post, David Heinemeier Hansson shares how 37signals has fully transitioned to using Kamal for deploying all their applications—past, present, and future. Frustrated by expensive enterprise cloud pricing and the complexity of Kubernetes, Hansson built Kamal in early 2023 as a lightweight and cost-effective alternative. Now, just two years later, it seamlessly manages deployments across every single web app they've built over the past two decades. This shift aligns with 37signals’ philosophy of longevity, ensuring that even customers who started using Basecamp in 2004 can still access the same version today. Kamal leverages Docker to encapsulate entire systems, making sure they can "run until the end of time," much like vintage games preserved through emulation.

Key Points:

• Kamal was created in early 2023 as a response to enterprise cloud pricing and Kubernetes complexity.
• Now fully deployed across all of 37signals’ active and legacy applications.
• The team believes in supporting software "Until The End Of The Internet"—ensuring no forced migrations.
• Basecamp 2003 is still operational, serving paying customers with the same codebase.
• Kamal is deliberately simple and durable, built as a lightweight wrapper around Docker.
• Quote: "Complexity is but a bridge — and a fragile one at that. To build something durable, you have to make it simple."

This isn’t just about DevOps—it’s a manifesto for sustainable software. By rejecting disposable cloud trends, 37signals is proving that apps don’t have to be thrown away just because they’re old. 🚀
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