Saleor E-commerce Deployment Guide

Introduction

Saleor is a powerful, open-source, GraphQL-first e-commerce platform built with Python and Django. It offers a modern architecture that separates the backend API from the frontend, providing flexibility for headless commerce implementations.

Saleor Components:

Saleor Core (API): Python/Django backend providing GraphQL API for products, orders, customers, and all e-commerce functionality
Saleor Dashboard: React-based admin panel for store management
Storefront: Your customer-facing store (build with any frontend framework)

Prerequisites

Before beginning the installation, ensure you have the following:

Requirement	Minimum	Recommended
RAM	4 GB	8 GB
CPU	2 vCPUs	4 vCPUs
Storage	40 GB SSD	80 GB SSD
OS	Ubuntu 22.04 LTS	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

You'll also need root or sudo access and domain names pointed to your server (e.g., saleor.example.com, dashboard.example.com).

Initial Server Setup

Connect to your RamNode VPS via SSH and update the system packages:

Update system

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install essential build tools and dependencies:

Install dependencies

sudo apt install -y build-essential git curl wget software-properties-common \
  libpq-dev libffi-dev libssl-dev libjpeg-dev zlib1g-dev \
  libmagic1 gettext

Create a dedicated user for running Saleor services:

Create user

sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash saleor
sudo usermod -aG sudo saleor

Install PostgreSQL

Saleor requires PostgreSQL as its database backend:

Install PostgreSQL

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib

# Start and enable PostgreSQL
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

Create a database and user for Saleor:

Access PostgreSQL

sudo -u postgres psql

Within the PostgreSQL prompt, run:

Create database

CREATE USER saleor WITH PASSWORD 'your_secure_password_here';
CREATE DATABASE saleor OWNER saleor;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE saleor TO saleor;
\q

Install Redis

Redis is used for caching, Celery task queue, and session management:

Install Redis

sudo apt install -y redis-server

Configure Redis for production:

Edit Redis config

sudo nano /etc/redis/redis.conf

Find and modify these settings:

Redis settings

supervised systemd
maxmemory 256mb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

Restart Redis

sudo systemctl restart redis-server
sudo systemctl enable redis-server

# Verify Redis is running
redis-cli ping

You should receive PONG as a response.

Install Python 3.12

Saleor requires Python 3.10 or later:

Install Python

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3.12 python3.12-venv python3.12-dev python3-pip

# Verify the installation
python3.12 --version

Install Node.js

The Saleor Dashboard requires Node.js. Install Node.js 20 LTS:

Install Node.js

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Verify the installation
node --version
npm --version

# Install pnpm (Saleor's preferred package manager)
sudo npm install -g pnpm

Install and Configure Saleor Core (API)

Switch to the saleor user and set up the application directory:

Clone Saleor

sudo su - saleor
mkdir -p /home/saleor/apps
cd /home/saleor/apps

# Clone the Saleor repository
git clone https://github.com/saleor/saleor.git
cd saleor
git checkout main

# Create a Python virtual environment
python3.12 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install Python dependencies
pip install --upgrade pip wheel setuptools
pip install -r requirements.txt

Configure Environment Variables

Create .env

nano /home/saleor/apps/saleor/.env

Add the following configuration:

.env configuration

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgres://saleor:your_secure_password_here@localhost:5432/saleor

# Redis
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://localhost:6379/1

# Security
SECRET_KEY=your_very_long_random_secret_key_here
DEBUG=False

# Allowed hosts and CORS
ALLOWED_HOSTS=saleor.example.com,localhost,127.0.0.1
ALLOWED_CLIENT_HOSTS=saleor.example.com,dashboard.example.com

# Static and media files
STATIC_URL=/static/
MEDIA_URL=/media/

# Dashboard URL
DASHBOARD_URL=https://dashboard.example.com/
STOREFRONT_URL=https://store.example.com/

# JWT settings
JWT_TTL_ACCESS=5m
JWT_TTL_REFRESH=30d
JWT_TTL_REQUEST_EMAIL_CHANGE=1h

Generate a secure secret key:

Generate secret key

python -c "from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key; print(get_random_secret_key())"

Initialize the Database

Setup database

# Apply database migrations
python manage.py migrate

# Create a superuser account
python manage.py createsuperuser

# Collect static files
python manage.py collectstatic --noinput

# Optionally, populate with sample data
python manage.py populatedb --createsuperuser

Configure Gunicorn

Create a Gunicorn configuration file:

Create config

nano /home/saleor/apps/saleor/gunicorn_config.py

Add the following configuration:

gunicorn_config.py

import multiprocessing

bind = "127.0.0.1:8000"
workers = multiprocessing.cpu_count() * 2 + 1
worker_class = "uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker"
timeout = 120
keepalive = 5
max_requests = 1000
max_requests_jitter = 50
accesslog = "/home/saleor/logs/gunicorn_access.log"
errorlog = "/home/saleor/logs/gunicorn_error.log"
loglevel = "info"

Create logs directory

# Create the logs directory
mkdir -p /home/saleor/logs

# Exit the saleor user session
exit

Create Systemd Services

Saleor API Service

Create service file

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/saleor-api.service

saleor-api.service

[Unit]
Description=Saleor API
After=network.target postgresql.service redis-server.service
Requires=postgresql.service redis-server.service

[Service]
Type=notify
User=saleor
Group=saleor
WorkingDirectory=/home/saleor/apps/saleor
Environment="PATH=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/venv/bin"
EnvironmentFile=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/.env
ExecStart=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/venv/bin/gunicorn saleor.asgi:application -c gunicorn_config.py
ExecReload=/bin/kill -s HUP $MAINPID
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
KillMode=mixed
TimeoutStopSec=30

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Celery Worker Service

Create Celery service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/saleor-celery.service

saleor-celery.service

[Unit]
Description=Saleor Celery Worker
After=network.target postgresql.service redis-server.service
Requires=redis-server.service

[Service]
Type=forking
User=saleor
Group=saleor
WorkingDirectory=/home/saleor/apps/saleor
Environment="PATH=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/venv/bin"
EnvironmentFile=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/.env
ExecStart=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/venv/bin/celery -A saleor worker --loglevel=info --concurrency=2 --detach --logfile=/home/saleor/logs/celery.log
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Celery Beat Service (Scheduled Tasks)

Create Celery Beat service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/saleor-celery-beat.service

saleor-celery-beat.service

[Unit]
Description=Saleor Celery Beat
After=network.target redis-server.service
Requires=redis-server.service

[Service]
Type=forking
User=saleor
Group=saleor
WorkingDirectory=/home/saleor/apps/saleor
Environment="PATH=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/venv/bin"
EnvironmentFile=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/.env
ExecStart=/home/saleor/apps/saleor/venv/bin/celery -A saleor beat --loglevel=info --detach --logfile=/home/saleor/logs/celery-beat.log
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start the services:

Enable services

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable saleor-api saleor-celery saleor-celery-beat
sudo systemctl start saleor-api saleor-celery saleor-celery-beat

# Verify the services are running
sudo systemctl status saleor-api
sudo systemctl status saleor-celery
sudo systemctl status saleor-celery-beat

Install Saleor Dashboard

Clone Dashboard

sudo su - saleor
cd /home/saleor/apps

# Clone the Dashboard repository
git clone https://github.com/saleor/saleor-dashboard.git
cd saleor-dashboard

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Create the environment configuration
nano .env

Add the following:

.env

API_URI=https://saleor.example.com/graphql/
APP_MOUNT_URI=/
STATIC_URL=/

Build Dashboard

# Build the production assets
pnpm run build

# Exit the saleor user session
exit

The built files will be in the build directory.

Install and Configure Nginx

Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx

Saleor API Configuration

Create API config

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/saleor-api

saleor-api

upstream saleor_api {
    server 127.0.0.1:8000;
    keepalive 32;
}

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

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name saleor.example.com;

    # SSL configuration (will be configured by Certbot)
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/saleor.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/saleor.example.com/privkey.pem;
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem;

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

    client_max_body_size 100M;

    location /static/ {
        alias /home/saleor/apps/saleor/static/;
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }

    location /media/ {
        alias /home/saleor/apps/saleor/media/;
        expires 7d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://saleor_api;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        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;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_redirect off;
        proxy_buffering off;
    }
}

Saleor Dashboard Configuration

Create Dashboard config

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/saleor-dashboard

saleor-dashboard

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

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name dashboard.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/dashboard.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/dashboard.example.com/privkey.pem;
    include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf;
    ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem;

    root /home/saleor/apps/saleor-dashboard/build;
    index index.html;

    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
        expires 1h;
        add_header Cache-Control "public";
    }

    location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }
}

Enable sites

# Enable the sites
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/saleor-api /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/saleor-dashboard /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

# Test the configuration
sudo nginx -t

Configure SSL with Let's Encrypt

Install Certbot

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Obtain SSL certificates
sudo certbot --nginx -d saleor.example.com -d dashboard.example.com

# Restart Nginx
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Certbot will automatically configure Nginx for SSL and set up automatic certificate renewal.

Configure Firewall

Configure UFW

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable

# Verify firewall status
sudo ufw status

Configure Backups

Create a backup script for your Saleor data:

Create backup script

sudo mkdir -p /home/saleor/scripts
sudo nano /home/saleor/scripts/backup.sh

backup.sh

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/home/saleor/backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
mkdir -p $BACKUP_DIR

# Database backup
pg_dump -U saleor saleor | gzip > $BACKUP_DIR/saleor_db_$DATE.sql.gz

# Media files backup
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/saleor_media_$DATE.tar.gz -C /home/saleor/apps/saleor media

# Cleanup backups older than 7 days
find $BACKUP_DIR -type f -mtime +7 -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

Enable backup cron

sudo chmod +x /home/saleor/scripts/backup.sh
sudo crontab -u saleor -e

Add for daily backups at 2 AM:

Crontab entry

0 2 * * * /home/saleor/scripts/backup.sh >> /home/saleor/logs/backup.log 2>&1

Verification and Testing

Test the GraphQL API

Access the GraphQL Playground at: https://saleor.example.com/graphql/

Access the Dashboard

Navigate to: https://dashboard.example.com/ and log in with your superuser credentials.

Verify Services

Check services

sudo systemctl status saleor-api saleor-celery saleor-celery-beat nginx redis-server postgresql

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Viewing Logs

View logs

# Saleor API logs
tail -f /home/saleor/logs/gunicorn_error.log

# Celery logs
tail -f /home/saleor/logs/celery.log

# Nginx logs
sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

# System journal
sudo journalctl -u saleor-api -f

Performance Optimization

Enable PostgreSQL Connection Pooling

Install PgBouncer

sudo apt install -y pgbouncer

Configure PgBouncer in /etc/pgbouncer/pgbouncer.ini for optimal performance.

Configure Redis Caching

Update your Saleor .env to use Redis caching:

Add to .env

CACHE_URL=redis://localhost:6379/2

Security Best Practices

Keep systems updated: Regularly run apt update && apt upgrade
Monitor logs: Set up log rotation and monitoring
Use strong passwords: Ensure all database and admin passwords are complex
Enable fail2ban: Protect against brute-force attacks
Regular backups: Test your backup and restore procedures
Limit SSH access: Use key-based authentication

Ready to Deploy Saleor?

Get started with a RamNode VPS optimized for e-commerce applications with powerful CPU, ample RAM, and NVMe storage.

Deploy Cloud VPS Saleor Documentation

Deploy Saleor

Introduction

Saleor Components:

Prerequisites

Initial Server Setup

Install PostgreSQL

Install Redis

Install Python 3.12

Install Node.js

Install and Configure Saleor Core (API)

Configure Environment Variables

Initialize the Database

Configure Gunicorn

Create Systemd Services

Saleor API Service

Celery Worker Service

Celery Beat Service (Scheduled Tasks)

Install Saleor Dashboard

Install and Configure Nginx

Saleor API Configuration

Saleor Dashboard Configuration

Configure SSL with Let's Encrypt

Configure Firewall

Configure Backups

Verification and Testing

Test the GraphQL API

Access the Dashboard

Verify Services

Troubleshooting Common Issues

API returns 502 Bad Gateway

Database connection errors

Static files not loading

Celery tasks not processing

Viewing Logs

Performance Optimization

Enable PostgreSQL Connection Pooling

Configure Redis Caching

Security Best Practices

Ready to Deploy Saleor?