Skip to main content

​
Prerequisites

  • A DigitalOcean account
  • A Personal Access Token with write scope

​
1. Generate an API token

  1. Log into your DigitalOcean account
  2. Go to API → Tokens
  3. Click Generate New Token
  4. Give it a name (e.g. StartMyVPN)
  5. Select Read and Write scopes
  6. Copy the token — it will only be shown once

​
2. Configure in StartMyVPN

Set the token in .env: 
DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN=your_token_here
Or navigate to Admin → Settings and enter it in the DigitalOcean section.

​
3. Deploy a VPN server

  1. Navigate to Admin → Deployments → DigitalOcean
  2. Select a region (e.g. nyc3, lon1, sgp1)
  3. Choose a droplet size — see sizing guide below
  4. Select the VPN protocol (OpenVPN or WireGuard)
  5. Click Deploy — the droplet is created and provisioning begins automatically
The deployment job runs in the background. You can monitor progress in the server details page.
UsersDroplet SizevCPURAM
Up to 50s-1vcpu-1gb11 GB
Up to 200s-2vcpu-2gb22 GB
Up to 500s-2vcpu-4gb24 GB
500+c-4 (CPU-optimized)48 GB

​
Regions

DigitalOcean regions are automatically synced when you visit the deployment page. To force a refresh: 
php artisan digitalocean:sync-regions

​
Rate limiting

StartMyVPN respects DigitalOcean’s API rate limits (5,000 requests/hour). Rate limit state is tracked internally and the app will back off automatically if the limit is approached.

​
Billing

DigitalOcean droplets are billed to your DigitalOcean account independently of StartMyVPN subscriptions. Monitor your DigitalOcean billing dashboard for infrastructure costs.