Install on cPanel hosting

Many hosts with cPanel can run Node.js apps (Software → Setup Node.js App, on CloudLinux servers). NodePress runs there from the server zip: there’s nothing to build or install.

Check with your host first that you have:

• Setup Node.js App in cPanel, with Node.js 22 or newer in its version list;
• a PostgreSQL database: PostgreSQL Databases in cPanel, or a free hosted one from Supabase or Neon. MySQL won’t work;
• enough memory for the app: about 1 GB. Hosts set a memory limit per account; on a low one NodePress is stopped as it starts.

1. Create the database

In cPanel, open PostgreSQL Databases, create a database and a user, and add the user to the database with all privileges. Note the database name, user name and password: cPanel puts your account name in front of both names, as in myacct_nodepress.

Using Supabase or Neon instead? Create a project and copy its connection string (on Supabase, the Session pooler string).

2. Upload NodePress

1. Download nodepress-linux-x64.zip from the Releases page.
2. In cPanel’s File Manager, open your home folder (the one that holds public_html, not public_html itself), Upload the zip, then select it and Extract.
3. Delete the zip. You now have a nodepress folder in your home folder.

NodePress keeps your settings, uploads and plugins in a nodepress-data folder next to it, which it creates on the first start. Both stay outside public_html, so nothing in them can be opened from the web.

3. Create the app

In Setup Node.js App, click Create Application and fill in:

Field	Value
Node.js version	22 or newer
Application mode	Production
Application root	nodepress
Application URL	The domain or subdomain for NodePress, such as cms.example.com
Application startup file	server.js

Click Create. Don’t click Run NPM Install: the zip already has everything, built for the server.

4. Finish in the browser

Open the application URL. NodePress shows its setup page, which asks for:

1. The setup code. In File Manager, open nodepress-data/setup-code.txt in your home folder. The code stops anyone else who finds the page first from installing NodePress.
2. The database. For a cPanel database: host localhost, port 5432, and the names and password from step 1. For Supabase or Neon, choose Connection string, paste it and tick Requires SSL. Test connection checks it first.
3. The site address, filled in from the address bar. Use https:// once the domain has a certificate (cPanel’s SSL/TLS Status turns on a free one).

Click Install NodePress. It creates the tables and saves the settings, then restarts itself, which can take half a minute. You then create the first admin account. Set up email next under Settings → Email & storage.

The settings are in nodepress-data/.env. It holds JWT_SECRET, which signs logins and encrypts the passwords saved in the admin: download a copy and keep it safe.

Good to know

• NodePress sleeps when nobody uses it. The host stops idle apps after a few minutes and starts them again on the next visit, which then takes a few seconds. While it sleeps, nothing runs in the background: entries scheduled to publish, webhook retries and other background jobs wait until the next request wakes it. If you rely on scheduled publishing, a VPS suits better.
• Restart in Setup Node.js App restarts NodePress. So does Restart now in the admin after a plugin or storage change.
• Uploads are kept in nodepress-data/uploads and count toward your hosting space. To keep them off the account, use S3-compatible storage.
• Settings such as SMTP_HOST can be set as environment variables in Setup Node.js App, or in nodepress-data/.env. Most are easier in the admin.

Updating

Read the notes for the new version in UPGRADING.md and back up the database first (cPanel’s Backup page, or your database provider’s).

1. In Setup Node.js App, Stop the app.
2. In File Manager, rename the nodepress folder to nodepress-old.
3. Upload and extract the new zip, as in step 2.
4. Start the app and open the site. NodePress applies the database updates as it starts.

Your content, uploads and settings are in the database and nodepress-data, so they stay as they are. Delete nodepress-old once the new version works.

If something goes wrong

NodePress writes what went wrong to the app’s log. Where to find it depends on the host: the log file path in Setup Node.js App, or stderr.log in the nodepress folder. Ask your host if you can’t find it.

Problem	What to do
The page shows the host’s error page, or “Incomplete response”	NodePress didn’t start. Check the log. A message about memory, or nothing at all, usually means the account’s memory limit is too low.
No Node.js 22 in the version list	Ask your host to add it, or use a VPS.
The setup page says the code is wrong	Open setup-code.txt again: every start writes a new code. After 10 wrong codes, restart the app.
This database already has other tables	Use an empty database for NodePress.
Can’t connect to a cPanel database	Check that the user was added to the database with all privileges, and use the full names with the account prefix.