In the previous chapter, we learned how to deploy Heroku applications. Specifically, we learned how to push code to and pull code from the Heroku environment, how developers of Heroku apps can use the Git distributed version control system to version their app, and how code deployments can be optimized. Finally, we learned how app releases can be managed in a Heroku environment.

Well, for the discerning minds, it makes a lot of sense to distinguish between deploying an app and running an app. Running an app is a subset of what goes on when you deploy a Heroku app. Running an app is more about operating an app using the available platform, troubleshooting the app in a test bed before deploying it in production, and finally monitoring it to verify if everything is working fine. In this chapter, we will focus on the running aspect of an app. We will discuss the typical lifecycle of a Heroku app and how we can run an app using the Heroku command-line facility...