Deploy NodeForgeCMS with PM2 and Nginx Reverse Proxy

Nginx acts as the front door to your NodeForgeCMS deployment: it terminates TLS, routes public traffic to the Node.js server running on port 3000, serves the built admin panel as static files, and efficiently handles uploaded media. The configuration differs slightly depending on which domain topology you chose, so follow the tab that matches your setup. Before configuring Nginx, make sure:

Nginx is installed (nginx -v should return a version)
Your Node.js server is running via PM2 on port 3000
You’ve built the admin panel for your topology (see build commands below)
You’ve replaced /path/to/NodeForgeCMS with the actual absolute path to your project root on disk

Build the Admin Panel

The admin panel is a static Vue application that must be compiled before Nginx can serve it. The build command differs by topology:

Separate Domains
Shared Domain

# From the project root
cd admin
pnpm build:prod

Output is written to admin/dist/. Nginx will serve this directory directly from admin.yourdomain.com.

# From the project root
cd admin
pnpm build:sigle

This build variant sets the correct base path for serving the admin panel under /admin. Output is written to admin/dist/.

Nginx Configuration

Separate Domains
Shared Domain

With the separate-domain topology, the public site and the admin panel each get their own server block. The public site proxies all traffic to the Node.js server; the admin panel is served as static files with only the /api/ path proxied back to Node.js.Create or edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/nodeforge with the following content:

# Public site — yourdomain.com
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    # Proxy all public requests to the Nuxt server
    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:3000/;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }

    # Serve uploaded media directly from disk (more efficient than proxying)
    location /uploads {
        alias /path/to/NodeForgeCMS/server/uploads;
    }
}

# Admin panel — admin.yourdomain.com
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name admin.yourdomain.com;

    # Serve the built admin SPA as static files
    location / {
        root  /path/to/NodeForgeCMS/admin/dist;
        index index.html;
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
    }

    # Proxy API calls back to the Node.js server
    location /api/ {
        proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:3000/api/;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Enable the config and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/nodeforge /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t          # verify no syntax errors
sudo systemctl reload nginx

With the shared-domain topology, a single server block handles everything. The root proxies to the Node.js server; /admin serves the static admin SPA from disk; and /uploads serves uploaded media directly.Create or edit /etc/nginx/sites-available/nodeforge with the following content:

# Unified server — yourdomain.com
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    # Proxy all public site requests to the Nuxt server
    location / {
        proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:3000/;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header   Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header   Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header   Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }

    # Serve uploaded media directly from disk
    location /uploads {
        alias /path/to/NodeForgeCMS/server/uploads;
    }

    # Serve the built admin SPA at /admin
    location /admin {
        alias   /path/to/NodeForgeCMS/admin/dist;
        index   index.html index.htm;
        try_files $uri $uri/ /admin/index.html;

        # Disable caching for the admin panel to ensure the latest build is always served
        expires -1;
        add_header Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate";
    }
}

Enable the config and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/nodeforge /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t          # verify no syntax errors
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt

Always run HTTPS in production. Certbot can automatically obtain a free TLS certificate from Let’s Encrypt and update your Nginx configuration in one command:

# Install Certbot
sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx

# Obtain and install a certificate (separate domains — run once per domain)
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com
sudo certbot --nginx -d admin.yourdomain.com   # separate-domain topology only

# Obtain and install a certificate (shared domain)
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Certbot automatically modifies your Nginx config to listen on port 443 and sets up an HTTP → HTTPS redirect. Certificates renew automatically via a systemd timer or cron job — verify with sudo certbot renew --dry-run.

Starting the Node.js Server with PM2

Nginx proxies to a Node.js process on port 3000. Use PM2 to manage that process:

# Install PM2 globally
npm install -g pm2

# Build the server and start it with PM2
cd /path/to/NodeForgeCMS/server
pnpm build
pm2 start pm2.config.cjs

# Save the process list so PM2 restarts it on reboot
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Useful PM2 commands:

Task	Command
View running processes	`pm2 list`
Stream live logs	`pm2 logs nodeforge-server`
Restart the server	`pm2 restart nodeforge-server`
Zero-downtime reload	`pm2 reload nodeforge-server`
Stop the server	`pm2 stop nodeforge-server`

​Build the Admin Panel

​Nginx Configuration

​Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt

​Starting the Node.js Server with PM2

Build the Admin Panel

Nginx Configuration

Enable HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt

Starting the Node.js Server with PM2