Node.js Application Deployment

Problem

Deploying Node.js applications consistently across development, staging, and production environments while managing dependencies, environment variables, and zero-downtime deployments.

Solution

Xec provides a unified approach to Node.js deployment using its execution engine to orchestrate deployment steps across different target environments.

Quick Example

// deploy.ts
import { $ } from '@xec-sh/core';

const target = process.argv[2] || 'staging';
const version = process.argv[3] || 'latest';

// Deploy to target environment
await $.ssh(target)`
  cd /app &&
  git pull origin ${version} &&
  npm ci --production &&
  npm run build &&
  pm2 reload ecosystem.config.js --update-env
`;

console.log(`✅ Deployed version ${version} to ${target}`);

Complete Deployment Recipe

Configuration

# .xec/config.yaml
targets:
  staging:
    type: ssh
    host: staging.example.com
    user: deploy
    key: ~/.ssh/deploy_key
    
  production:
    type: ssh
    host: prod.example.com
    user: deploy
    key: ~/.ssh/deploy_key
    
  production-2:
    type: ssh
    host: prod2.example.com
    user: deploy
    key: ~/.ssh/deploy_key

tasks:
  deploy:
    description: Deploy Node.js application
    params:
      - name: env
        required: true
        values: [staging, production]
      - name: version
        default: main
    steps:
      - name: Pre-deployment checks
        command: xec run scripts/pre-deploy.ts ${params.env}
      - name: Deploy application
        command: xec run scripts/deploy.ts ${params.env} ${params.version}
      - name: Post-deployment validation
        command: xec run scripts/post-deploy.ts ${params.env}

Deployment Script

// scripts/deploy.ts
import { $, $$, type Target } from '@xec-sh/core';
import chalk from 'chalk';
import { readFile } from 'fs/promises';

const environment = process.argv[2];
const version = process.argv[3] || 'main';

// Configuration
const config = {
  staging: {
    targets: ['staging'],
    appPath: '/var/www/app-staging',
    pm2Name: 'app-staging',
    nodeEnv: 'staging'
  },
  production: {
    targets: ['production', 'production-2'],
    appPath: '/var/www/app',
    pm2Name: 'app-production',
    nodeEnv: 'production'
  }
};

const envConfig = config[environment];
if (!envConfig) {
  console.error(chalk.red(`Unknown environment: ${environment}`));
  process.exit(1);
}

console.log(chalk.blue(`🚀 Deploying ${version} to ${environment}...`));

// Function to deploy to a single target
async function deployToTarget(targetName: string) {
  console.log(chalk.gray(`  Deploying to ${targetName}...`));
  
  const target = $.ssh(targetName);
  
  try {
    // 1. Backup current version
    await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      if [ -d .git ]; then
        echo "Current version: $(git rev-parse HEAD)" > ../deploy-backup.txt
      fi
    `;
    
    // 2. Pull latest code
    const gitResult = await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      git fetch origin &&
      git checkout ${version} &&
      git pull origin ${version}
    `.nothrow();
    
    if (!gitResult.ok) {
      throw new Error(`Git pull failed: ${gitResult.error.message}`);
    }
    
    // 3. Install dependencies
    console.log(chalk.gray(`    Installing dependencies...`));
    await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      npm ci --production
    `;
    
    // 4. Run build
    console.log(chalk.gray(`    Building application...`));
    await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      NODE_ENV=${envConfig.nodeEnv} npm run build
    `;
    
    // 5. Run migrations
    console.log(chalk.gray(`    Running migrations...`));
    const migrationResult = await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      NODE_ENV=${envConfig.nodeEnv} npm run migrate
    `.nothrow();
    
    if (!migrationResult.ok) {
      console.warn(chalk.yellow(`    ⚠️  Migration warnings: ${migrationResult.error.message}`));
    }
    
    // 6. Reload application with PM2
    console.log(chalk.gray(`    Reloading application...`));
    await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      NODE_ENV=${envConfig.nodeEnv} pm2 reload ${envConfig.pm2Name} --update-env
    `;
    
    // 7. Wait for health check
    console.log(chalk.gray(`    Waiting for health check...`));
    let healthy = false;
    for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
      const healthResult = await target`
        curl -f http://localhost:3000/health || exit 1
      `.nothrow();
      
      if (healthResult.ok) {
        healthy = true;
        break;
      }
      
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
    }
    
    if (!healthy) {
      throw new Error('Health check failed after 30 seconds');
    }
    
    console.log(chalk.green(`    ✅ ${targetName} deployed successfully`));
    return true;
    
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(chalk.red(`    ❌ Deployment to ${targetName} failed: ${error.message}`));
    
    // Rollback on failure
    console.log(chalk.yellow(`    Rolling back ${targetName}...`));
    const backupVersion = await target`
      if [ -f ../deploy-backup.txt ]; then
        grep "Current version:" ../deploy-backup.txt | cut -d: -f2 | tr -d ' '
      else
        echo "main"
      fi
    `.text();
    
    await target`
      cd ${envConfig.appPath} &&
      git checkout ${backupVersion.trim()} &&
      npm ci --production &&
      npm run build &&
      pm2 reload ${envConfig.pm2Name} --update-env
    `.nothrow();
    
    throw error;
  }
}

// Deploy to all targets
try {
  // Deploy sequentially for production, parallel for staging
  if (environment === 'production') {
    for (const target of envConfig.targets) {
      await deployToTarget(target);
    }
  } else {
    await Promise.all(
      envConfig.targets.map(target => deployToTarget(target))
    );
  }
  
  console.log(chalk.green(`\n✅ Deployment to ${environment} completed successfully!`));
  
} catch (error) {
  console.error(chalk.red(`\n❌ Deployment failed: ${error.message}`));
  process.exit(1);
}

Pre-deployment Checks

// scripts/pre-deploy.ts
import { $ } from '@xec-sh/core';
import chalk from 'chalk';

const environment = process.argv[2];

console.log(chalk.blue('🔍 Running pre-deployment checks...'));

// Check disk space
const diskSpace = await $.ssh(environment)`
  df -h /var/www | tail -1 | awk '{print $5}' | sed 's/%//'
`.text();

if (parseInt(diskSpace) > 80) {
  console.error(chalk.red(`❌ Disk space critical: ${diskSpace}% used`));
  process.exit(1);
}

// Check if PM2 is running
const pm2Status = await $.ssh(environment)`
  pm2 status || exit 1
`.nothrow();

if (!pm2Status.ok) {
  console.error(chalk.red('❌ PM2 is not running'));
  process.exit(1);
}

// Check database connectivity
const dbCheck = await $.ssh(environment)`
  cd /var/www/app* &&
  npm run db:ping
`.nothrow();

if (!dbCheck.ok) {
  console.error(chalk.red('❌ Database connection failed'));
  process.exit(1);
}

console.log(chalk.green('✅ All pre-deployment checks passed'));

Post-deployment Validation

// scripts/post-deploy.ts
import { $ } from '@xec-sh/core';
import chalk from 'chalk';

const environment = process.argv[2];
const endpoints = {
  staging: 'https://staging.example.com',
  production: 'https://example.com'
};

console.log(chalk.blue('🔍 Running post-deployment validation...'));

// Check application health
const healthCheck = await $`
  curl -f ${endpoints[environment]}/health
`.nothrow();

if (!healthCheck.ok) {
  console.error(chalk.red('❌ Health check failed'));
  process.exit(1);
}

// Check critical endpoints
const criticalEndpoints = ['/api/status', '/api/version', '/'];

for (const endpoint of criticalEndpoints) {
  const result = await $`
    curl -f -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" ${endpoints[environment]}${endpoint}
  `.text();
  
  if (result !== '200') {
    console.error(chalk.red(`❌ Endpoint ${endpoint} returned ${result}`));
    process.exit(1);
  }
}

// Check application logs for errors
const logs = await $.ssh(environment)`
  pm2 logs --nostream --lines 50 | grep -i error || true
`.text();

if (logs.includes('FATAL') || logs.includes('CRITICAL')) {
  console.error(chalk.red('❌ Critical errors found in logs'));
  console.log(logs);
  process.exit(1);
}

console.log(chalk.green('✅ All post-deployment validations passed'));

// Send deployment notification
await $`
  curl -X POST https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/WEBHOOK/URL \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
      "text": "✅ Deployment to '${environment}' completed successfully",
      "channel": "#deployments"
    }'
`.nothrow();

Zero-Downtime Deployment

// scripts/zero-downtime-deploy.ts
import { $ } from '@xec-sh/core';
import chalk from 'chalk';

const environment = process.argv[2];
const servers = ['prod-1', 'prod-2', 'prod-3'];

// Remove servers from load balancer one by one
for (const server of servers) {
  console.log(chalk.blue(`Deploying to ${server}...`));
  
  // 1. Remove from load balancer
  await $`
    aws elb deregister-instances-from-load-balancer \
      --load-balancer-name prod-lb \
      --instances ${server}
  `;
  
  // 2. Wait for connections to drain
  await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 30000));
  
  // 3. Deploy to server
  await $.ssh(server)`
    cd /app &&
    git pull &&
    npm ci --production &&
    npm run build &&
    pm2 reload app
  `;
  
  // 4. Health check
  let healthy = false;
  for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
    const result = await $.ssh(server)`curl -f http://localhost:3000/health`.nothrow();
    if (result.ok) {
      healthy = true;
      break;
    }
    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
  }
  
  if (!healthy) {
    throw new Error(`Health check failed for ${server}`);
  }
  
  // 5. Add back to load balancer
  await $`
    aws elb register-instances-with-load-balancer \
      --load-balancer-name prod-lb \
      --instances ${server}
  `;
  
  // 6. Wait for load balancer health check
  await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 30000));
  
  console.log(chalk.green(`✅ ${server} deployed and back in rotation`));
}

Docker-based Deployment

// scripts/docker-deploy.ts
import { $ } from '@xec-sh/core';

const environment = process.argv[2];
const image = process.argv[3];

// Build and push Docker image
await $`
  docker build -t myapp:${image} . &&
  docker tag myapp:${image} registry.example.com/myapp:${image} &&
  docker push registry.example.com/myapp:${image}
`;

// Deploy to Docker Swarm or Kubernetes
if (environment === 'production') {
  // Update service in Docker Swarm
  await $.ssh('swarm-manager')`
    docker service update \
      --image registry.example.com/myapp:${image} \
      --update-parallelism 1 \
      --update-delay 30s \
      myapp-service
  `;
} else {
  // Update deployment in Kubernetes
  await $`
    kubectl set image deployment/myapp \
      myapp=registry.example.com/myapp:${image} \
      --namespace=${environment}
  `;
  
  // Wait for rollout
  await $`
    kubectl rollout status deployment/myapp \
      --namespace=${environment} \
      --timeout=5m
  `;
}

Usage Examples

# Deploy to staging
xec deploy --env=staging

# Deploy specific version to production
xec deploy --env=production --version=v1.2.3

# Run deployment script directly
xec run scripts/deploy.ts production v1.2.3

# Zero-downtime deployment
xec run scripts/zero-downtime-deploy.ts production

# Docker deployment
xec run scripts/docker-deploy.ts production latest

Best Practices

1. Always run pre-deployment checks to verify system readiness
2. Use version tags for production deployments
3. Implement health checks to verify successful deployment
4. Keep rollback scripts ready for quick recovery
5. Test deployments in staging before production
6. Monitor logs during and after deployment
7. Use zero-downtime strategies for production

Common Patterns

Environment-specific Configuration

const configs = {
  development: { /* ... */ },
  staging: { /* ... */ },
  production: { /* ... */ }
};

const config = configs[process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development'];

Parallel Deployment

// Deploy to multiple servers simultaneously
await Promise.all(
  servers.map(server => deployToServer(server))
);

Sequential Deployment with Validation

for (const server of servers) {
  await deployToServer(server);
  await validateDeployment(server);
}

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails

// Check logs
await $.ssh(target)`pm2 logs --lines 100`;

// Check disk space
await $.ssh(target)`df -h`;

// Check memory
await $.ssh(target)`free -m`;

Rollback Procedure

// scripts/rollback.ts
const previousVersion = await $.ssh(target)`
  cd /app && git rev-parse HEAD~1
`.text();

await $.ssh(target)`
  cd /app &&
  git checkout ${previousVersion} &&
  npm ci --production &&
  npm run build &&
  pm2 reload app
`;

Related Topics

• Docker Deployment
• Kubernetes Deployment
• Static Site Deployment
• CI/CD Integration