Deploy a Full-Stack App to Production on Your Own Server

npx terminal-skills install dokploy nixpacks

# SSH into the VPS (Hetzner CX31: 4 vCPU, 8GB RAM, €8.49/mo)
ssh root@88.99.xxx.xxx

# Install Dokploy (takes ~2 minutes)
curl -sSL https://dokploy.com/install.sh | sh

# Dashboard is now available at https://88.99.xxx.xxx:3000
# Set your admin password on first login

# Point your domain's DNS to the VPS
# A record: dokploy.myapp.com → 88.99.xxx.xxx
# A record: myapp.com → 88.99.xxx.xxx
# A record: *.myapp.com → 88.99.xxx.xxx

# In Dokploy dashboard → Settings → Server Domain:
# Set to dokploy.myapp.com
# Dokploy auto-provisions SSL via Let's Encrypt

# In Dokploy dashboard → Databases → Create:
# Type: PostgreSQL
# Version: 16
# Database Name: saas_production
# Username: saas_user
# Password: (auto-generated)
# Storage: Persistent volume mounted automatically

# Dokploy provides the connection string:
# postgresql://saas_user:xxx@dokploy-postgres-xxx:5432/saas_production
# This is an internal Docker network URL — only accessible by other Dokploy services

# Also create a Redis instance for session storage and job queues:
# Type: Redis
# Version: 7
# Internal URL: redis://dokploy-redis-xxx:6379

# nixpacks.toml — Build configuration for the Next.js app
# Nixpacks auto-detects Next.js from package.json
# We only need to add Prisma generation to the build phase

[phases.build]
cmds = [
  "npx prisma generate",           # Generate Prisma client from schema
  "npm run build",                  # Next.js production build
]

[start]
cmd = "npx prisma migrate deploy && npm start"  # Run migrations, then start

[variables]
NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED = "1"       # Disable Next.js telemetry in build

## In Dokploy Dashboard:

### Create the Web Application
1. Applications → Create → From GitHub
2. Repository: myorg/saas-app
3. Branch: main
4. Build Type: Nixpacks (auto-detected)
5. Port: 3000
6. Auto-deploy: Enabled (deploys on every push to main)

### Set Environment Variables
In the app's "Environment" tab:

# Core application config
NODE_ENV=production
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://saas_user:xxx@dokploy-postgres-xxx:5432/saas_production
REDIS_URL=redis://dokploy-redis-xxx:6379
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=<auto-generated-by-dokploy>
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://myapp.com

# Third-party services
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_xxx
RESEND_API_KEY=re_xxx
SENTRY_DSN=https://xxx@sentry.io/xxx

# S3-compatible storage (MinIO on the same server, or external)
S3_BUCKET=uploads
S3_ENDPOINT=https://s3.myapp.com
S3_ACCESS_KEY=xxx
S3_SECRET_KEY=xxx

### Configure the Domain
1. Domains → Add Domain
2. Host: myapp.com
3. HTTPS: Enabled (Let's Encrypt auto-provisions)
4. Force HTTPS: Enabled

### Deploy
Click "Deploy" — Dokploy:
1. Pulls the code from GitHub
2. Builds with Nixpacks (cached layers for node_modules)
3. Runs health checks on port 3000
4. Switches traffic to the new container (zero-downtime)
5. Keeps the previous container for instant rollback

// src/worker.ts — Background job processor
import { Worker } from "bullmq";
import { redis } from "./lib/redis";

const worker = new Worker(
  "default",
  async (job) => {
    switch (job.name) {
      case "send-email":
        await sendTransactionalEmail(job.data);
        break;
      case "process-webhook":
        await handleWebhook(job.data);
        break;
      case "generate-report":
        await generateMonthlyReport(job.data);
        break;
      default:
        throw new Error(`Unknown job: ${job.name}`);
    }
  },
  {
    connection: redis,
    concurrency: 5,            // Process 5 jobs in parallel
    limiter: {
      max: 100,                // Max 100 jobs per minute (email rate limit)
      duration: 60_000,
    },
  }
);

worker.on("completed", (job) => {
  console.log(`✅ Job ${job.name}#${job.id} completed`);
});

worker.on("failed", (job, err) => {
  console.error(`❌ Job ${job?.name}#${job?.id} failed:`, err.message);
});

console.log("🔄 Worker started, waiting for jobs...");

# worker/nixpacks.toml — Worker build config (separate Dokploy service)
[phases.build]
cmds = ["npx prisma generate", "npm run build"]

[start]
cmd = "node dist/worker.js"

# scripts/backup.sh — Database backup script
#!/bin/bash
# Run via Dokploy's cron or system crontab

set -euo pipefail

TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/postgres"
RETENTION_DAYS=14

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"

# Dump the database (Dokploy exposes the container name)
docker exec dokploy-postgres-xxx \
  pg_dump -U saas_user -d saas_production \
  --format=custom --compress=9 \
  > "$BACKUP_DIR/saas_${TIMESTAMP}.dump"

# Upload to S3 (optional)
aws s3 cp "$BACKUP_DIR/saas_${TIMESTAMP}.dump" \
  s3://myapp-backups/postgres/saas_${TIMESTAMP}.dump

# Clean old backups
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "*.dump" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete

echo "✅ Backup complete: saas_${TIMESTAMP}.dump"

# Add to system crontab on the VPS
# crontab -e
0 3 * * * /opt/scripts/backup.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1