Deploy a Node.js App on a VPS with PM2

Running a Node.js app on your own VPS gives you full control and a fixed hourly cost. Here's a clean setup that restarts on crashes and survives reboots.

1. Install Node.js LTS

The simplest reliable route is nvm, the Node version manager:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc
nvm install --lts
node -v

2. Get your app onto the server

git clone https://github.com/you/your-app.git
cd your-app
npm ci --omit=dev

Put secrets in a .env file on the server — never commit them.

3. Run it under PM2

PM2 keeps the process alive, restarts it if it crashes, and collects logs.

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start server.js --name my-app
pm2 logs my-app

4. Start on boot

pm2 startup
pm2 save

pm2 startup prints one command — run it, and your app comes back after every reboot.

5. Put it behind Nginx with HTTPS

Keep Node listening on localhost (say port 3000) and let Nginx face the internet. Install Nginx and Certbot:

apt install -y nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx

A minimal site config in /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-app:

server {
    server_name app.example.com;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Enable it and get a certificate:

ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/my-app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
nginx -t && systemctl reload nginx
certbot --nginx -d app.example.com

Updating later

git pull && npm ci --omit=dev && pm2 restart my-app

Which size?

A typical Node app runs happily on Spark (2 GB RAM). Move up if you add a database on the same box.

Deploy a server and have your app online in minutes.