Install from the server zip

The server zip is NodePress ready to run: the API and the admin already built, every dependency included, for Linux on x64 or arm64. You unzip it, start it with Node.js and finish in the browser, much like installing WordPress. There’s nothing to build, so it also runs on small servers.

Zip	For
nodepress-linux-x64.zip	Most servers (Intel and AMD)
nodepress-linux-arm64.zip	ARM servers: AWS Graviton, Hetzner CAX, Oracle Ampere

Both are on the Releases page, with a .sha256 checksum next to each.

What the server needs

• Linux with glibc: Ubuntu 20.04 or newer, Debian 11 or newer, AlmaLinux / Rocky / CloudLinux 8 or newer. Alpine isn’t supported.
• Node.js 22 or newer.
• PostgreSQL 12 or newer: on the same server, or a hosted one (Supabase, Neon, your host’s). An empty database. MySQL won’t work.
• About 1 GB of memory for NodePress and 1 GB of disk for the unpacked app.

On shared hosting with cPanel, follow Install on cPanel hosting instead.

On your own server (VPS)

This puts NodePress on an Ubuntu server with automatic HTTPS from Caddy. It takes about 20 minutes. Create the server and point your domain at it as in steps 1–3 of Deploy on a server with Docker, then run everything below on the server as root (sudo -i first if you log in as ubuntu). Use your own domain wherever this says cms.example.com.

1. Install Node.js, PostgreSQL and Caddy

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | bash -
apt-get install -y nodejs postgresql caddy unzip
ufw allow OpenSSH && ufw allow 80 && ufw allow 443 && ufw --force enable

The firewall keeps NodePress’s own port (3000) private: only Caddy reaches it.

2. Create the database

This prints a random password for the database. Copy it; the setup page asks for it.

DB_PASSWORD="$(openssl rand -hex 24)"
sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER nodepress WITH PASSWORD '$DB_PASSWORD';"
sudo -u postgres createdb -O nodepress nodepress
echo "Database password: $DB_PASSWORD"

3. Download and unzip NodePress

NodePress runs as its own user, not as root:

useradd --system --create-home --home-dir /srv/nodepress --shell /bin/bash nodepress
cd /srv/nodepress
curl -fLO https://github.com/buildwithkode/nodepress/releases/latest/download/nodepress-linux-x64.zip
unzip -q nodepress-linux-x64.zip && rm nodepress-linux-x64.zip
chown -R nodepress:nodepress /srv/nodepress

On an ARM server, use nodepress-linux-arm64.zip in both places. This makes /srv/nodepress/nodepress, the app. Your settings, uploads and plugins go in /srv/nodepress/nodepress-data next to it, so an update can replace the app folder without touching them.

4. Run it as a service

cat > /etc/systemd/system/nodepress.service <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=NodePress
After=network.target postgresql.service

[Service]
User=nodepress
WorkingDirectory=/srv/nodepress/nodepress
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node server.js
Restart=always

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now nodepress

Restart=always matters: NodePress stops itself after some admin changes (Restart now after a plugin or storage change) and expects to be started again.

5. Turn on HTTPS

cat > /etc/caddy/Caddyfile <<'EOF'
cms.example.com {
  encode zstd gzip
  request_body {
    max_size 50MB
  }
  handle /api/metrics {
    respond 403
  }
  reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:3000
}
EOF
systemctl reload caddy

One process serves the API and the admin, so everything goes to port 3000.

6. Finish in the browser

NodePress prints a one-time setup code when it starts without settings. Show it with:

journalctl -u nodepress -n 30 --no-pager

Open https://cms.example.com and the setup page asks for:

1. The setup code. It stops anyone else who finds the page first from installing it. After 10 wrong codes the page locks until NodePress restarts.
2. The database. Host localhost, port 5432, database nodepress, user nodepress and the password from step 2. Or paste a connection string: from Supabase, Neon or your host, tick Requires SSL. Test connection checks it before anything is written.
3. The site address, filled in from the address bar.

Install NodePress creates the tables, saves the settings in /srv/nodepress/nodepress-data/.env and starts NodePress. You then create the first admin account. Set up email next under Settings → Email & storage.

.env holds JWT_SECRET, which signs logins and encrypts the passwords saved in the admin: keep a copy of it somewhere safe.

With PM2 instead of systemd

If you already use PM2, as the nodepress user:

cd /srv/nodepress/nodepress
pm2 start server.js --name nodepress
pm2 save

Run pm2 startup once and follow what it prints, so PM2 starts again after a reboot. The setup code is in pm2 logs nodepress.

Settings

Variable	What it does
PORT	The port NodePress listens on. Default 3000.
NODEPRESS_DATA	Where settings, uploads and plugins live. Default: nodepress-data next to the app folder.
NODEPRESS_MIGRATE	0 stops NodePress applying database updates when it starts.

Set them in the service (Environment=PORT=3100 under [Service]), not in .env: NodePress reads them before it loads .env. Everything else is in .env, documented in backend/.env.example inside the zip.

Updating

Read the notes for the new version in UPGRADING.md and make a backup (below). Then replace the app folder:

cd /srv/nodepress
curl -fLO https://github.com/buildwithkode/nodepress/releases/latest/download/nodepress-linux-x64.zip
systemctl stop nodepress
mv nodepress nodepress-old
unzip -q nodepress-linux-x64.zip && rm nodepress-linux-x64.zip
chown -R nodepress:nodepress nodepress
systemctl start nodepress

NodePress applies the database updates when it starts (✔ Database up to date in the log). Once it works, rm -rf nodepress-old. To go back, stop it and move nodepress-old back; if the new version changed the database, restore the backup too.

Backups

The zip includes the backup script. It needs the PostgreSQL client tools (apt-get install -y postgresql-client, already there with PostgreSQL on the same server):

sudo -u nodepress bash -c 'cd /srv/nodepress/nodepress && npm run backup'

It writes the database and uploads to /srv/nodepress/nodepress-data/backups/nodepress-<time>.tar.gz. Copy those off the server now and then, along with .env. See Backups for restoring.

If something goes wrong

Start with the log: journalctl -u nodepress -n 100 --no-pager.

Problem	What to do
NodePress isn't built yet	The zip didn’t unpack fully. Unzip it again.
Permission denied or EACCES	The nodepress user can’t write its folders: chown -R nodepress:nodepress /srv/nodepress.
The setup page says the code is wrong	Copy the code from the newest start in the log; each start prints a new one. After 10 wrong codes, systemctl restart nodepress.
This database already has other tables	Use an empty database for NodePress. A database that already has NodePress’s tables is fine: they’re kept and updated.
The database couldn't be updated	The database is unreachable, or the update failed. The lines above it say which. NodePress doesn’t start on a half-updated database.
502 Bad Gateway	NodePress isn’t running: systemctl status nodepress.