Node.js Deployment to Production

What is Deployment to Production in Node.js?

Deploying Node means running the app under a process manager behind a reverse proxy, with environment variables supplied by the platform, HTTPS terminated at the proxy, and logs collected centrally.

Deployment to Production example

server {
  listen 443 ssl http2;
  server_name api.example.com;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:5000;
    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;
  }
}

Key points to remember

• Set NODE_ENV=production — frameworks enable caching and skip development checks.
• Install with npm ci --omit=dev for a smaller, reproducible install.
• Terminate TLS at the proxy, not in Node.
• Set app.set("trust proxy", 1) so req.ip and rate limiting see the real client.
• Expose a /health endpoint for load balancer checks.

Common mistakes with Deployment to Production

• Running Node directly on port 443 as root.
• Leaving NODE_ENV unset, which keeps development behaviour and costs performance.
• Missing WebSocket upgrade headers, so Socket.IO silently falls back to polling.