Deployment Guide (Hostinger VPS)

Target

Deploy the Next.js app with PostgreSQL, serving HTTPS traffic via Nginx.

Prerequisites

• Hostinger VPS with Ubuntu 22.04+
• Domain pointed to VPS IP
• Node.js 20+
• PostgreSQL 15+
• Nginx
• PM2

1. Install Base Packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl git build-essential nginx postgresql postgresql-contrib
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs
sudo npm install -g pm2

2. Prepare App Directory

cd /var/www
sudo mkdir -p whatidotoday
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER whatidotoday
cd whatidotoday

Copy project files into this folder (git clone or rsync/scp).

3. Configure Environment

Create .env in project root:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://<db_user>:<db_pass>@localhost:5432/what_i_do_today?schema=public"
AUTH_SECRET="<long-random-secret>"
APP_TIME_ZONE="Asia/Kuala_Lumpur"
NODE_ENV="production"
OPENAI_API_KEY=""
OPENAI_MODEL="gpt-4.1-mini"

Generate strong secret example:

openssl rand -base64 48

4. Setup PostgreSQL

sudo -u postgres psql

Inside psql:

CREATE DATABASE what_i_do_today;
CREATE USER widt_user WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD '<strong-password>';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE what_i_do_today TO widt_user;
\q

5. Install and Build

cd /var/www/whatidotoday
npm install
npm run prisma:generate
npm run prisma:migrate
npm test
npm run build

6. Run with PM2

cd /var/www/whatidotoday
pm2 start npm --name "whatidotoday" -- start
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Check status:

pm2 status
pm2 logs whatidotoday --lines 100

6.1 Configure Scheduled Export Cron

crontab -e

Add:

0 * * * * cd /var/www/whatidotoday && npm run cron:exports >> /var/log/widt-cron.log 2>&1

7. Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/whatidotoday:

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name yourdomain.com www.yourdomain.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;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  }
}

Enable config:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/whatidotoday /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/whatidotoday
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

8. Enable HTTPS

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com -d www.yourdomain.com

9. Update Workflow

cd /var/www/whatidotoday
git pull
npm install
npm run prisma:migrate
npm test
npm run build
pm2 restart whatidotoday

10. Smoke Check

• Open https://yourdomain.com/setup
• Create admin account once
• Login and add a test log
• Verify CSV/PDF export
• Verify analytics/team pages
• Create one scheduled export and run npm run cron:exports