Deploying Nuxt on a VPS: SSR, API Routes and Control

Why host Nuxt on a VPS?

SSR, SSG or SPA: which rendering mode for your Nuxt project?

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What you can do with Nuxt on a VPS

Concrete capabilities on VPS

• Serve a Nuxt application in SSR mode for optimal SEO and reduced load times — PM2 keeps the Nitro process alive and automatically restarts it after a crash or server reboot
• Deploy a static site generated with nuxt generate and serve it through Nginx without a permanent Node.js process — ideal for a blog or landing page with infrequent updates
• Host multiple Nuxt projects on the same VPS using a reverse proxy and Nginx Virtual Hosts — each application runs on its own internal port (3000, 3001…)
• Configure sensitive environment variables (API keys, DB connections) directly on the server in /etc/environment or via an .env file outside the Git repository
• Enable Nitro API routes (server/api/) to expose a lightweight backend layer from the same Node.js process, with no separate Express server
• Automate deployments with a PM2 ecosystem file, GitHub webhooks or a CI/CD pipeline pointing to your VPS via SSH
• Enable HTTPS automatically with Let's Encrypt via Certbot to secure your users at no certificate cost

Install and deploy Nuxt on your ServOrbit VPS

1. 01

   Order a ServOrbit Cloud VPS

   Go to the /vps-cloud page and choose the plan that fits your project. For a Nuxt SSR application, plan for at least 1 vCPU and 1 GB RAM; 2 GB comfortably absorbs the Nitro process, a reverse proxy and compilation spikes during deployments. If you host multiple Nuxt applications, start with 2 vCPU / 4 GB. Complete the order and access your client portal once the VPS is delivered — typically in under a minute.

2. 02

   Install Nuxt from the Marketplace

   Log in to your ServOrbit client portal, navigate to the Marketplace section from your VPS dashboard, then search for Nuxt. Click the card, confirm the installation. The script automatically configures Node.js LTS, PM2 as the process manager, Nginx as a reverse proxy on port 80 (and 443 if a domain is provided). The operation takes under two minutes. At the end, your VPS already exposes a sample Nuxt server accessible via the VPS IP.

3. 03

   Deploy your application and configure environment variables

   Connect via SSH (ssh root@<VPS-IP>), then clone your repository into the prepared directory:

   git clone https://github.com/your-org/your-app.git /var/www/nuxt-app
   cd /var/www/nuxt-app
   npm install

   Then create a .env file outside your Git repository with your runtime variables:

   NUXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE=https://api.your-domain.com
   NUXT_SECRET_KEY=your-private-key
   DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@localhost/mydb

   Nuxt 3 reads variables prefixed with NUXT_ via useRuntimeConfig() — NUXT_PUBLIC_* variables are exposed client-side, others remain server-only. Never commit the .env file: add it to .gitignore from the start.

4. 04

   Build the application and launch it with PM2

   Compile the application for production:

   npm run build

   Nuxt 3 generates the .output/ folder containing the Nitro server. Launch it with PM2 in cluster mode to use all CPU cores:

   pm2 start .output/server/index.mjs -i max --name nuxt-app
   pm2 save
   pm2 startup

   The pm2 startup command generates the systemd line to execute so that PM2 restarts automatically on server reboot. Check the status: pm2 status — instances should be online. For zero-downtime reloads during deployments: pm2 reload nuxt-app.

5. 05

   Configure Nginx as a reverse proxy and point your domain

   The Marketplace template installs a ready-to-use Nginx Virtual Host in /etc/nginx/sites-available/nuxt-app. Edit it to set your domain name and enable static asset caching:

   server {
       server_name your-domain.com;
   
       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;
       }
   
       location /_nuxt/ {
           proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
           expires 1y;
           add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
       }
   }

   Point your DNS A record to the VPS IP, then run Certbot to obtain a free TLS certificate: certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com. Reload Nginx: nginx -s reload. Your Nuxt application is now available over HTTPS.

6. 06

   Automate subsequent deployments

   For updates, create a deployment script at /var/www/nuxt-app/deploy.sh:

   #!/bin/bash
   set -e
   cd /var/www/nuxt-app
   git pull origin main
   npm install --production=false
   npm run build
   pm2 reload nuxt-app
   echo "Deployment complete"

   Make it executable (chmod +x deploy.sh) and trigger it from your CI/CD pipeline via SSH: ssh root@<IP> /var/www/nuxt-app/deploy.sh. PM2 reload (not restart) ensures a smooth transition — PM2 waits for each new instance to be ready before cutting the old one.

Environment variables and Nuxt 3 runtime config

Monitor logs and diagnose errors

pm2 logs nuxt-app          # live stream (stdout + stderr)
pm2 logs nuxt-app --lines 100  # last 100 lines
pm2 monit                  # real-time CPU / memory dashboard

pm2 install pm2-logrotate
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:max_size 50M
pm2 set pm2-logrotate:retain 7

Diagnosing common issues