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PM2Node.jsDeploy6 min read

Deploy with PM2 (Node.js)

Deploy Node.js applications in production with PM2 for process management and automatic restarts.

PM2 is a production process manager for Node.js applications. It handles restarts, clustering, logging and startup scripts.

Step 1 — Install PM2

bash
npm install -g pm2

Step 2 — Start your application

bash
pm2 start app.js --name "my-app"

For ES modules or TypeScript:

bash
pm2 start server.mjs --name "my-api"
pm2 start dist/index.js --name "my-ts-app"

Step 3 — Useful PM2 commands

bash
pm2 list                  # List all processes
pm2 logs my-app           # View logs
pm2 restart my-app        # Restart
pm2 stop my-app           # Stop
pm2 delete my-app         # Remove from PM2
pm2 monit                 # Real-time monitoring

Step 4 — Ecosystem file

Create ecosystem.config.js for complex setups:

javascript
module.exports = {
  apps: [{
    name: 'my-api',
    script: './dist/index.js',
    instances: 'max',
    exec_mode: 'cluster',
    env: {
      NODE_ENV: 'production',
      PORT: 3000
    },
    max_memory_restart: '500M',
    log_date_format: 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss'
  }]
};

Start with:

bash
pm2 start ecosystem.config.js

Step 5 — Auto-start on boot

bash
pm2 startup

Run the command it outputs (with sudo), then save the current process list:

bash
pm2 save

Step 6 — Zero-downtime reload

For cluster mode applications:

bash
pm2 reload my-api

Step 7 — Log management

bash
pm2 install pm2-logrotate
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:max_size 10M
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:retain 7

Deployment workflow

bash
git pull origin main
npm install --production
npm run build
pm2 reload my-api

Tip

Combine PM2 with Nginx as a reverse proxy for production deployments on your Baires Host VPS. PM2 handles the Node.js process while Nginx handles SSL, static files and load balancing.

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