One VPS is full. Here is how I add a second server without Kubernetes

The question that keeps coming up in self-hosting threads goes like this: my single VPS is running out of memory, do I now have to learn Kubernetes? I wanted a straight answer for Levelrail, the self-hosted deploy platform I work on, so I spent an evening adding a second server to a throwaway instance and writing down every requirement the docs claim. I could run some of it. I will say which parts.

TL;DR

Step What happens What to know

Pick a method One pasted command, an SSH adoption, or a server created at a cloud provider All three end with the same thing: an agent on the new box

Connect The agent dials out to the control plane over mutual TLS The new box needs no inbound port for control traffic

Preflight Docker, CPU architecture, disk, clock, WireGuard, mesh port Linux on amd64 or arm64 only

Place apps Each app lives on exactly one node No replica spreading across nodes yet

What a second node is, and is not

A Levelrail install…