# Next.js app at your own domain Create a Next.js app in a workspace, build it for production, and put it on the internet at `app.example.com`, with HTTPS that renews itself. At the end it also comes back on its own after the server restarts. The same steps work for a Nest.js API; see [Nest.js instead](#nestjs-instead) at the end. **You need:** a Linux VPS (tested on Debian and Ubuntu), and a domain such as `app.example.com` pointed at it (or a DNS provider package installed, so `expose add` points it for you — see [DNS](/concepts/dns/)). ## Before you start: machine, skills, workspace ``` curl -fsSL https://mydevmachine.sh/install.sh | sh devmachine setup devmachine skills add devmachine workspaces new acme devmachine sync ``` Already have a machine? Skip `setup`. Already have the workspace? Skip the last two. See [getting started](/getting-started/) for what each command does. ## By hand Node is already there: every new workspace gets the `dev` package, which installs the Node LTS (with `npm` and `npx`) through mise. If you made the workspace with your own `--packages` list and left `dev` out, add it first on your computer: `devmachine packages add dev --workspace acme`, then `devmachine sync`. Caddy came with `setup` (it's in the `essentials` package), and it will answer this site and get its own certificate. If your machine was set up with `--no-essentials`, add it first: `devmachine packages add caddy`, then `devmachine sync`. ### 1. Create the app Inside the workspace: ``` devmachine ssh acme cd ~/dev npx create-next-app@latest web --yes --use-npm ``` The first time, `npx` asks to install `create-next-app`: answer `y`. `--yes` takes the defaults for every other question (TypeScript, Tailwind, ESLint, the App Router), and `--use-npm` installs the packages with npm. ### 2. Build it and start it Still inside the workspace: ``` cd ~/dev/web npm run build npm start ``` `npm run build` makes the optimized production build, and `npm start` serves it on port 3000. Do not serve the site with `npm run dev`: the dev server is slower, rebuilds pages on each request, and shows its error overlay to visitors. ### 3. Expose the port On your computer: ``` devmachine expose add acme 3000 --host app.example.com --publish ``` `expose add` writes the Caddy route on the machine and reloads Caddy, which gets the certificate for the host — no `sync` needed. If no DNS provider package is installed, `expose add` prints the record to create by hand at your registrar instead of writing it for you. ## With your agent Open a session on your own computer (`devmachine skills add` taught it the CLI) and say: ```text In my devmachine workspace acme, create a Next.js app in ~/dev/web with create-next-app, build it with npm run build, and run it with npm start on port 3000 under pm2, so it comes back after a reboot. Then expose port 3000 at app.example.com. ``` The agent runs the same commands over SSH: `create-next-app`, the build, pm2 and the cron line from [Keep it running](#keep-it-running), then `expose add` on your computer. You still point `app.example.com` at the server yourself if no DNS provider package is installed — the agent shows you the record. And if `setup` has not run yet, you check the fingerprint yourself; the agent cannot do that part. **Check it:** on your computer, `curl -s https://app.example.com | grep -o '[^<]*'` prints `Create Next App`, with a valid certificate. ## Keep it running `devmachine ssh acme` opens inside tmux, so `npm start` keeps going after you close the terminal — see [keep your sessions running](/guides/keep-sessions-running/). A reboot stops it. To bring it back on its own, run it under [pm2](https://pm2.keymetrics.io/docs/usage/quick-start/) instead. First stop the `npm start` from step 2 with `Ctrl-C`. Then, inside the workspace: ``` npm install -g pm2 cd ~/dev/web pm2 start "npm start" --name web pm2 save (crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "@reboot $HOME/.local/share/mise/shims/pm2 resurrect") | crontab - ``` `pm2 save` writes down the apps pm2 runs now, and the cron line starts them again at every boot. pm2's own `pm2 startup` does not work here: it only prints a `sudo` command, and a workspace account has no `sudo`. The cron line does the same job without it. It uses the mise shim, the full path to `pm2`, because cron runs with almost nothing on its `PATH`. Once the code lives in a git repository you push to, ship a new version with: ``` cd ~/dev/web git pull && npm run build && pm2 restart web ``` `pm2 logs web` shows the app's output, and `pm2 ls` shows whether it is `online`. ## Nest.js instead A Nest.js API follows the same flow. Inside the workspace: ``` cd ~/dev npx @nestjs/cli@latest new api --package-manager npm --no-observe cd api npm run build node dist/main ``` `--package-manager npm` and `--no-observe` answer the two questions `nest new` would ask. The API listens on port 3000 by default, and `curl localhost:3000` prints `Hello World!`. Expose it the same way, on your computer: ``` devmachine expose add acme 3000 --host app.example.com --publish ``` To keep it running, stop `node dist/main` with `Ctrl-C` and run it under pm2 instead, then save and add the same cron line as above: ``` cd ~/dev/api pm2 start dist/main.js --name api pm2 save ``` Port 3000 holds one app at a time. To run the Next.js site and the API side by side, start the API on another port — the generated `src/main.ts` reads it from `PORT`: `PORT=3001 pm2 start dist/main.js --name api` — and expose that port at another host, such as `api.example.com`. ## Troubleshooting **`pm2 start npm --name web -- start` fails with `SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier 'pipefail'`.** The `npm` that mise installs is a shell script, and that form makes pm2 run it as JavaScript. `pm2 ls` shows the app as `errored`. Delete it with `pm2 delete web` and start it as a command string, as above: `pm2 start "npm start" --name web`. ## Remove it On your computer, take the site off Caddy: ``` devmachine expose rm app.example.com ``` Then, inside the workspace, stop the app and drop the cron line: ``` pm2 delete web pm2 save --force crontab -l | grep -v 'pm2 resurrect' | crontab - ``` Source: [Next.js — Deploying](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/getting-started/deploying), [create-next-app](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/cli/create-next-app), [NestJS — First steps](https://docs.nestjs.com/first-steps), [PM2 — Quick start](https://pm2.keymetrics.io/docs/usage/quick-start/)