Node.js & Next.js Hosting

Step by step

The example below deploys an app called myapp for the account myuser on app.yourdomain.com. Substitute your own names throughout.

1. Create the subdomain and its folder

   In cPanel go to Domains → Create A New Domain. Enter app.yourdomain.com, untick Share document root, and set the document root to:

   /home/myuser/myapp/public

   This matters: Passenger expects your application folder to be /home/myuser/myapp and it serves static files out of a public sub-folder inside it. The public folder must exist, even if it stays empty — the app will not start without it.

2. Put your code in place

   Your project files go in /home/myuser/myapp — one level above the document root. The easiest route is cPanel's Git Version Control: click Create, tick Clone a Repository, paste your repo URL and set the path to /home/myuser/myapp.

   Or from Terminal:

   cd ~
   git clone https://github.com/you/myapp.git myapp
   mkdir -p myapp/public

3. Add an entry point named app.js

   Passenger starts your application by loading app.js in the application folder. Your app must listen on the port Passenger provides in process.env.PORT.

   A plain Node or Express app:

   // app.js
   const express = require('express');
   const app = express();
   
   app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('Hello from RTL'));
   
   app.listen(process.env.PORT || 3000);

   A Next.js app needs a small custom server. Create this as app.js next to your package.json:

   // app.js
   const { createServer } = require('http');
   const next = require('next');
   
   const app = next({ dev: false, dir: __dirname });
   const handle = app.getRequestHandler();
   
   app.prepare().then(() => {
     createServer((req, res) => handle(req, res))
       .listen(process.env.PORT || 3000);
   });

4. Install dependencies and build

   Open Terminal in cPanel. Put the server's Node on your path first — the system node is not the one your app will run under:

   export PATH=/opt/cpanel/ea-nodejs22/bin:$PATH
   cd ~/myapp
   npm ci
   npm run build     # Next.js and other build steps

   Add that export line to your ~/.bashrc so you do not have to repeat it each session.

5. Register the app in Application Manager

   In cPanel open Application Manager (under Software) and click Register Application. Fill in:

   • Application Name myapp
   • Application Path /home/myuser/myapp
   • Domain app.yourdomain.com
   • Base Application URI /
   • Deployment Environment Production

   Add any environment variables your app needs (database URLs, API keys, NODE_ENV) under Add Environment Variable. Tick Enabled and save. Your app is now live.

6. Restarting after a change

   Passenger keeps your app running between requests, so new code is not picked up until you restart it. Either hit Restart in Application Manager, or from Terminal:

   cd ~/myapp
   mkdir -p tmp
   touch tmp/restart.txt

   The next request will start a fresh process.

7. Optional: deploy on git push

   If you cloned with Git Version Control, add a .cpanel.yml file to the root of your repository so a push rebuilds and restarts the app automatically:

   ---
   deployment:
     tasks:
       - export PATH=/opt/cpanel/ea-nodejs22/bin:$PATH
       - cd /home/myuser/myapp
       - /opt/cpanel/ea-nodejs22/bin/npm ci
       - /opt/cpanel/ea-nodejs22/bin/npm run build
       - mkdir -p /home/myuser/myapp/tmp
       - touch /home/myuser/myapp/tmp/restart.txt

   Then push your changes and click Deploy HEAD Commit in Git Version Control.