Strapi 5 Deployment Guide | Headless CMS on VPS

What is Strapi?

Strapi is the leading open-source headless CMS built on Node.js and TypeScript. It provides a powerful admin panel for managing content and exposes your data through fully customizable REST and GraphQL APIs.

• Admin Panel: Intuitive content management UI
• REST & GraphQL: Dual API out of the box
• TypeScript: Full type safety support
• Extensible: Plugin ecosystem and custom fields
• Role-Based Access: Granular permissions system
• Media Library: Built-in asset management

Prerequisites

• A RamNode VPS with at least 2 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs (4 GB recommended)
• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS installed
• A registered domain name with DNS pointed to your VPS IP
• SSH access with a non-root sudo user
• Basic familiarity with the Linux command line

⚠️ Important: Strapi 5 requires Node.js v20 or v22 (LTS versions only). Odd-numbered releases (v21, v23) are not supported. This guide uses Node.js v22 LTS.

Initial Server Setup

Connect & Update

ssh your_user@your_server_ip
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Build Tools

sudo apt install -y build-essential curl git

Install Node.js

Install Node.js v22 LTS

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Verify Installation

node -v
npm -v

You should see Node.js v22.x and npm v10.x or later. Optionally install Yarn:

Optional: Install Yarn

npm install -g yarn

Install and Configure PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is recommended for production — better performance, concurrency, and data integrity than SQLite.

Install PostgreSQL

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo systemctl start postgresql
sudo systemctl enable postgresql

Create Database & User

Enter PostgreSQL Shell

sudo -u postgres psql

SQL Commands

CREATE USER strapi WITH PASSWORD 'your_secure_password';
CREATE DATABASE strapidb OWNER strapi;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE strapidb TO strapi;
ALTER ROLE strapi CREATEDB;
\q

The CREATEDB privilege is needed because Strapi manages schema-level operations during initialization and migrations.

Create Your Strapi Project

Create Project Directory

sudo mkdir -p /var/www
cd /var/www
npx create-strapi@latest my-strapi-app

When prompted, configure:

• Database client: postgres
• Database name: strapidb
• Host: 127.0.0.1 | Port: 5432
• Username: strapi | Password: your password
• Enable SSL: No (local PostgreSQL)
• TypeScript: Recommended

Set Ownership

sudo chown -R your_user:your_user /var/www/my-strapi-app

Configure Environment Variables

Edit .env File

cd /var/www/my-strapi-app
nano .env

.env Configuration

HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=1337
APP_KEYS=your_app_key_1,your_app_key_2,your_app_key_3,your_app_key_4
API_TOKEN_SALT=your_api_token_salt
ADMIN_JWT_SECRET=your_admin_jwt_secret
TRANSFER_TOKEN_SALT=your_transfer_token_salt
JWT_SECRET=your_jwt_secret

DATABASE_CLIENT=postgres
DATABASE_HOST=127.0.0.1
DATABASE_PORT=5432
DATABASE_NAME=strapidb
DATABASE_USERNAME=strapi
DATABASE_PASSWORD=your_secure_password
DATABASE_SSL=false

Generate each secret with:

Generate Secrets

openssl rand -base64 32

🔒 Security: These secrets are critical for authentication. Never commit them to version control or share publicly.

Build and Test Strapi

Build Admin Panel

NODE_ENV=production npm run build

Start Temporarily

NODE_ENV=production npm run start

Navigate to http://your_server_ip:1337/admin to confirm the admin panel loads. Create your first administrator account. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Set Up PM2 Process Manager

Install PM2

npm install -g pm2

ecosystem.config.js

module.exports = {
  apps: [
    {
      name: 'strapi',
      cwd: '/var/www/my-strapi-app',
      script: 'npm',
      args: 'run start',
      env: {
        NODE_ENV: 'production',
      },
      exp_backoff_restart_delay: 100,
      max_memory_restart: '1G',
      log_date_format: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss Z',
      error_file: '/var/www/my-strapi-app/logs/error.log',
      out_file: '/var/www/my-strapi-app/logs/output.log',
    },
  ],
};

Start with PM2

mkdir -p /var/www/my-strapi-app/logs
cd /var/www/my-strapi-app
pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

Enable Auto-Start on Boot

pm2 startup systemd
pm2 save

Monitor Strapi

pm2 status
pm2 logs strapi

Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx

/etc/nginx/sites-available/strapi

upstream strapi {
    server 127.0.0.1:1337;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your_domain.com;

    client_max_body_size 50M;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://strapi;
        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;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Enable & Test Configuration

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/strapi /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Enable SSL with Let's Encrypt

Install Certbot

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx

Obtain Certificate

sudo certbot --nginx -d your_domain.com

Verify Auto-Renewal

sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Your Strapi instance is now accessible at https://your_domain.com/admin with a valid SSL certificate.

Configure the Firewall

UFW Configuration

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw status

This allows SSH (port 22) and HTTP/HTTPS (ports 80/443). Strapi's port 1337 is only accessible through the Nginx reverse proxy.

Configure Production URLs

config/server.js

module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
  host: env('HOST', '0.0.0.0'),
  port: env.int('PORT', 1337),
  url: env('PUBLIC_URL', 'https://your_domain.com'),
  app: {
    keys: env.array('APP_KEYS'),
  },
});

Add to your .env file:

Add to .env

PUBLIC_URL=https://your_domain.com

Rebuild & Restart

cd /var/www/my-strapi-app
NODE_ENV=production npm run build
pm2 restart strapi

Maintenance & Management

Updating Strapi

Update Strapi

cd /var/www/my-strapi-app
npm update
NODE_ENV=production npm run build
pm2 restart strapi

📝 Note: Always review the Strapi release notes before upgrading — major versions may require migration steps.

Database Backups

PostgreSQL Backup

pg_dump -U strapi -h 127.0.0.1 strapidb > /backups/strapidb_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql

Add this to a cron job for automated daily backups. Store backups off-server for disaster recovery.

Monitoring Logs

View Logs

pm2 logs strapi --lines 100

Health Check

Strapi exposes a built-in health check at /_health (HTTP 204). Integrate with monitoring tools like UptimeRobot or your own Grafana stack.

Recommended VPS Specifications

Use Case	RAM	vCPUs	Storage
Small blog or personal site	2 GB	2	30 GB SSD
Medium business site or API	4 GB	4	60 GB SSD
High-traffic application	8 GB+	4+	100 GB+ SSD

Strapi's memory usage scales with content types, plugins, and concurrent API requests. For most projects, 2–4 GB provides a comfortable baseline. View Cloud VPS Plans →

Your Stack

• Runtime: Node.js v22 LTS
• Database: PostgreSQL
• Process Manager: PM2 with automatic restart
• Web Server: Nginx reverse proxy with SSL
• SSL: Let's Encrypt with auto-renewal
• Firewall: UFW (SSH, HTTP, HTTPS only)

From here, extend your deployment with Strapi plugins, external media storage (Cloudinary, MinIO), or connect frontends like Next.js, Nuxt, or Astro.

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