Production Deployment

Deploy Laju applications with build on server and auto-deploy via GitHub Actions.

Quick Start - First Time Deploy

First time server setup:

# 1. SSH to server
ssh root@your-server-ip

# 2. Install Node.js via NVM
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install 22

# 3. Install PM2
npm install -g pm2

# 4. Clone repository & build
cd /root
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-app.git laju
cd laju
npm install
npm run build

# 5. Setup environment
cp .env.example .env
nano .env  # Edit as needed

# 6. Run migrations (data folder already exists with .gitkeep)
DB_CONNECTION=production npm run migrate

# 7. Start with PM2
pm2 start build/server.js --name laju
pm2 save
pm2 startup

PM2 Commands

pm2 logs laju        # View logs
pm2 restart laju     # Restart
pm2 reload laju      # Zero-downtime reload
pm2 status           # Status
pm2 monit            # Monitor resources

HTTPS with Nginx

Install & Configure

sudo apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/laju:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name yourdomain.com;
    
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;
    
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5555;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/laju /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

HTTPS with Caddy

Caddy is simpler - it handles automatic HTTPS with Let's Encrypt out of the box.

Install & Configure

# Install Caddy
sudo apt install -y debian-keyring debian-archive-keyring apt-transport-https
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/gpg.key' | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/caddy-stable-archive-keyring.gpg
curl -1sLf 'https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/caddy/stable/debian.deb.txt' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/caddy-stable.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install caddy

Create /etc/caddy/Caddyfile:

yourdomain.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:5555
}

# Test configuration
sudo caddy validate --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

# Start Caddy
sudo systemctl enable caddy
sudo systemctl start caddy

# Caddy automatically obtains and renews SSL certificates!

Caddy vs Nginx

Feature	Caddy	Nginx
HTTPS Setup	Automatic (zero config)	Manual (certbot)
SSL Renewal	Automatic	Automatic (certbot)
Configuration	Simple	More complex
Performance	Good	Excellent
Learning Curve	Easy	Moderate

HTTPS with Cloudflare

Skip Nginx/Caddy entirely - use Cloudflare as reverse proxy with SSL termination.

Setup

1. Point domain to Cloudflare:

   • Change nameservers to Cloudflare
   • Add A record pointing to your server IP

2. Enable Cloudflare Proxy:

   • Set DNS record to Proxied (orange cloud)

3. Configure Laju for Cloudflare:

Update .env:

TRUST_PROXY=true

Update server.ts:

const option = {
  max_body_length: 10 * 1024 * 1024,
  trust_proxy: process.env.TRUST_PROXY === 'true',
};

4. Create Origin Rule (to route to port 5555):
   • Go to Rules → Origin Rules
   • Field: Hostname → Operator: equals → Value: yourdomain.com
   • Setting: Port → Value: 5555

Cloudflare vs Nginx/Caddy

Feature	Cloudflare	Nginx	Caddy
HTTPS Setup	Automatic (DNS)	Manual (certbot)	Automatic
SSL Termination	Yes	Yes	Yes
DDoS Protection	Built-in	No	No
CDN	Global	No	No

Troubleshooting

Application Won't Start

pm2 logs laju --lines 50    # Check logs
cat .env                     # Verify env
node --version               # Check Node version
sudo lsof -i :5555           # Check port

Database Errors

ls -lh data/production.sqlite3                           # Check file
sqlite3 data/production.sqlite3 "PRAGMA journal_mode;"   # Verify WAL

NVM Not Found (GitHub Actions)

Make sure the script loads NVM:

export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"

Next Steps

• CI/CD - Setup GitHub Actions auto-deployment
• Testing - Test your deployment