Paid service not live yet? The first-build page explained
Paid for a Voroa service but it is not live yet? Learn why a waiting page appears, how to fix a failed first deploy, and when your billing period starts.
What you see
You created a web service, chose a paid size and paid for it. Your service address now shows a short page that says “This service is waiting for its first successful build”, and the service page in your dashboard shows “Awaiting first successful build”.
This is expected. It means your service is set up and its paid capacity is reserved for you, but your app has not run yet, because no build has finished successfully.
Why Voroa shows a waiting page
When you pay, your service is ready straight away, at the size you chose. Your app only appears after its code builds and starts. Until then, Voroa keeps your address answering with a plain waiting page instead of an error, so you and anyone you share the link with can see that the service exists and is being set up.
The waiting page is not your app. It does not run your code, it does not count as a deploy, and it never shows as Live in your dashboard.
What happens when a build succeeds
As soon as a build of your service finishes and your app starts, your app takes over the address and the waiting page is removed automatically. You do not need to do anything. From then on, a later deploy that fails keeps your previous working version running, exactly like any other service.
If your first build failed
The most common reasons a first build fails are in the code itself: a build command that errors, a missing dependency, or an app that does not listen on the port Voroa provides. To find the cause:
- Open your service in the dashboard and go to the Deploys tab.
- Open the failed deploy. The build log shows the stage that failed and the first error.
- Fix the error in your repository and push to the branch the service deploys from. Voroa builds again automatically.
See Deploy history and logs for how to read a build log, and Your first deploy for the settings a first deploy needs.
Stopping, downgrading or deleting
- Stop: stopping the service also removes the waiting page, so nothing answers at the address.
- Moving to a free size: the waiting page is removed when the service leaves its paid size. A downgrade takes effect at the end of the paid period. The same happens if a payment is refunded or a renewal is not paid.
- Delete: deleting the service removes the waiting page along with everything else.
Frequently asked questions
Am I being charged while my app is not running?
Yes. Your billing period starts when you pay, because the size you chose is reserved for you from that moment, whether or not a build has succeeded. A build that fails because of your code or settings does not change this. If you believe a failure was caused by Voroa, contact support. Refunds follow Section 5.2 of our Refund Policy.
Can visitors see my code or settings on the waiting page?
No. The page shows only a short message and a link to the Voroa dashboard. It contains nothing from your repository, your environment variables or your account.
Does every service get a waiting page?
No. It appears only for a paid web service that has never been live. Free services, workers, cron jobs and static sites do not get one, and a service that has been live before keeps its last working version instead.