I'm building a Node app and need auto deploys from GitHub

Here’s the simplest reliable way to get auto-deploys from GitHub for a Node app. I’ll give you a practical setup that works well on a VPS or cloud VM.

Recommended approach

Use:

• GitHub repo
• GitHub Actions to deploy on push
• A server running your Node app with either:
  • PM2 to keep it running, or
  • Docker if you prefer containers

Basic flow

1. You push to main
2. GitHub Actions runs tests/build
3. It SSHes into your server
4. Pulls the latest code
5. Installs dependencies / builds
6. Restarts the app

---

Option A: Deploy with SSH + PM2

1) Set up your Node app on the server

On your server:

git clone git@github.com:yourname/yourrepo.git
cd yourrepo
npm install
npm run build   # if applicable
npm install -g pm2
pm2 start app.js --name my-app
pm2 save
pm2 startup

If you use npm start, then:

pm2 start npm --name my-app -- start

---

2) Add secrets to GitHub

In your GitHub repo go to:

Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret

Add:

• SSH_HOST = your server IP/domain
• SSH_USER = server username
• SSH_KEY = private SSH key
• SSH_PORT = 22 or custom port

---

3) Create a GitHub Actions workflow

Create this file:

.github/workflows/deploy.yml

name: Deploy Node App

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Node
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Build
        run: npm run build --if-present

      - name: Deploy via SSH
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v1.0.3
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.SSH_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.SSH_USER }}
          key: ${{ secrets.SSH_KEY }}
          port: ${{ secrets.SSH_PORT }}
          script: |
            cd /var/www/yourrepo
            git pull origin main
            npm ci --omit=dev
            npm run build --if-present
            pm2 restart my-app --update-env

---

Option B: Deploy with Docker

If you already use Docker, build the image in GitHub Actions and push it to a registry (like GHCR), then pull and restart on the server.

This is better if you want:

• consistent environments
• easier rollbacks
• cleaner production setup

---

Good practices

• Use a production branch like main
• Add a npm test step before deploy
• Keep environment variables in:
  • GitHub Secrets
  • server .env
• Use a process manager like PM2
• Set up logs/monitoring

---

Important note

If your app needs:

• database migrations
• caching
• asset building
• restart on config changes

then include those in the deployment script.

Example:

git pull origin main
npm ci --omit=dev
npm run migrate
npm run build --if-present
pm2 restart my-app --update-env

---

If you want the easiest possible setup

Tell me which environment you’re using:

1. VPS / Ubuntu server
2. Docker
3. Vercel / Render / Railway / Fly.io
4. AWS / GCP / Azure

And I’ll give you an exact step-by-step deployment config for that platform.