Buildkite Agent
The hybrid-CI agent - Buildkite runs the control plane, your jobs run here. One token, unmetered minutes.
One-click deploy, from $13/mo on a Miget plan.
Buildkite made the architectural choice the other CI vendors are still backing into: the SaaS runs orchestration, UI, and webhooks, while every build executes on agents you control. Compute was never metered because it was never theirs - which makes the agent the cleanest self-hosted runner in this catalogue.
Official MIT-licensed image, one required token, tags for queue targeting. Jobs run as shell commands in the container; extend the image with your toolchains and raise replicas for parallelism - agents pull independently from the queue.
The standard platform note: no Docker daemon, so plugin-heavy Docker workflows need kaniko/buildah substitutions, while script-based pipelines run untouched.
Upstream project: Buildkite agent
#what you get
- Official buildkite/agent image - zero wrapper code
- One env var to a working agent
- Queue targeting via tags (queue=miget)
- Replicas = parallel agents, independently pulling jobs
- MIT-licensed agent; SaaS control plane does the orchestration
- Unmetered build minutes on your flat plan
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| agent | Buildkite agent, outbound to buildkite.com | no - no ingress needed |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
2 GiB RAM · 5 GB disk · 1 service
The agent is a single Go binary; budget RAM for your builds. Scale horizontally with replicas - each agent handles one job at a time by default.
Hobby - recommended fit
$13/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 50 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 2 GiB at $19/mo
Professional - production
$22/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 10 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (2 GiB RAM, 5 GB disk, 1 container) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $13 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$100 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$29 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$26 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$21 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$13 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
buildkite-agent -
Set the required variable:
BUILDKITE_AGENT_TOKEN, Buildkite > Agents > Reveal Agent Token
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/buildkite-agent
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Why is Buildkite the “cleanest” runner here?
Because self-hosted agents are Buildkite’s primary model, not an escape hatch: the official image needs exactly one env var, registration is instant, and there is no minute-metering to escape in the first place. Buildkite charges per user for the control plane; compute was always yours.
How do pipelines target this agent?
Tags: the template sets queue=miget, and pipelines select it with agents: queue: miget. Add more tags (language versions, capabilities) to route specific steps to specific agents.
Does Docker-based tooling work?
The docker-compose and docker plugins need a daemon this platform does not expose. Script steps, artifact upload/download, and the broader plugin ecosystem that shells out work normally - and image builds go through kaniko or buildah like everywhere else in the catalogue.
Ship Buildkite Agent today
One compose stack, 2 GiB of RAM, from $13/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.