Redeploy a self-hosted VPS

SSH to the server:

ssh deploy@your-server-ip

Go to your project directory and pull:

cd /var/www/myapp
git pull origin main

Install new dependencies (only if package.json / requirements.txt changed):

npm install --production
# or: pip install -r requirements.txt
# or: bundle install --deployment

Build (if needed):

npm run build

Restart the service:

# If using systemd:
sudo systemctl restart myapp

# If using pm2:
pm2 reload myapp

# If using Docker:
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d

That's it — the new code is live.

You'll do this often enough that a script saves real time. deploy.sh on the server:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

cd /var/www/myapp
git pull origin main
npm install --production
npm run build
sudo systemctl restart myapp
echo "✓ Deployed at $(date)"

Make it executable: chmod +x deploy.sh. Now redeploy is one command (after SSHing in):

./deploy.sh

Don't even SSH manually — script it from your Mac:

# deploy.sh on your laptop
#!/usr/bin/env bash
ssh deploy@your-server-ip '/var/www/myapp/deploy.sh'

Or directly inline:

ssh deploy@your-server-ip 'cd /var/www/myapp && git pull && npm install --production && npm run build && sudo systemctl restart myapp'

The naive restart drops in-flight requests. For real production:

• pm2 reload — restarts Node.js workers one at a time; new ones come up before old ones go down. Built-in to pm2 ↗.
• systemd Type=notify — your service signals "ready" before systemd kills the old one. Smaller downtime window than a default restart.
• Two instances behind Nginx — run two copies on different ports, switch Nginx upstream, restart the other. Manual but cheap; no extra tooling.
• Docker Compose up -d — for Compose-managed services, Docker handles rolling replacement of one container at a time if you set deploy.update_config.

For an automatic deploy on every push to main, the cheapest patterns:

• GitHub Action that SSHes in. workflow_dispatch or on: push: main → action runs ssh ... 'deploy.sh'. Needs an SSH deploy key stored as a GitHub Secret.
• Webhook + a tiny listener. GitHub fires a webhook on push; a small Node/Python service on your server runs deploy.sh. Beware: public webhook endpoints need signature verification (similar to Stripe webhooks).
• Pull mode (cron). Server polls git every 60 seconds; runs deploy if there's a new commit. Simplest, slightly delayed.

If the new deploy is broken:

cd /var/www/myapp
git reset --hard HEAD~1   # back to the previous commit
npm install --production
npm run build
sudo systemctl restart myapp

This rolls forward to the previous commit. Better long-term: keep last N releases in numbered directories and symlink current at one — that gives instant rollback without rebuilding.