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Quick Start Checklist

Use this checklist for each new project:

1. GitHub Setup

• Create .github/workflows/deploy.yml (use template above)
• Create .env.example with required variables
• Update next.config.ts with output: 'standalone'
• Update Dockerfile with heap size and source map optimization

2. GitHub Secrets Setup

• Go to Settings → Environments → Production
• Add secrets:
  • SSH_HOST (VPS IP)
  • SSH_PORT (usually 22, or custom like 5028)
  • SSH_USER (usually root)
  • SSH_PRIVATE_KEY (SSH private key)
  • DATABASE_URL (database connection)

3. VPS Preparation

• Verify Docker is installed: docker --version
• Create app directory: mkdir -p /var/www/PROJECT_NAME
• Docker login: echo TOKEN | docker login ghcr.io -u USERNAME --password-stdin
• Generate SSL certificate (self-signed or Let's Encrypt)
• Update Nginx config and reload

4. First Deployment

• Merge PR to main branch
• GitHub Actions triggers automatically
• Monitor workflow in Actions tab
• Check VPS: docker ps to see if container is running
• Test: curl https://YOUR_IP (ignore certificate warning if self-signed)

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GitHub Secrets Setup (Step by Step)

1. Navigate to Secrets

1. Go to your repository on GitHub
2. Click Settings → Environments
3. Click New environment → name it Production

2. Add SSH Secrets

SSH_HOST

• Value: Your VPS IP (e.g., 181.13.244.185)
• Click Add secret

SSH_PORT

• Value: Your SSH port (e.g., 22 or 5028)
• Click Add secret

SSH_USER

• Value: SSH username (usually root)
• Click Add secret

SSH_PRIVATE_KEY

• Value: Your private SSH key content

  # In WSL/Linux, get your key:
  cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa
  # Copy the entire output including BEGIN/END lines

• Click Add secret

3. Add Database Secrets

DATABASE_URL

• Value: postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/db_name
• Click Add secret

4. Verify

• All 5 secrets should appear in Production environment
• Workflow will use these automatically

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Monitoring Deployments

1. GitHub Actions Status

Monitor the workflow:

GitHub → Actions → Select latest run

Watch for:

• ✅ Build and push (compiles Docker image)
• ✅ Deploy to VPS (SSH and docker pull/run)

2. VPS Container Status

SSH to VPS and check:

# List running containers
docker ps

# See container logs
docker logs container_name

# Example for lvc project:
docker logs lvc_app

3. VPS Service Status

Check if app is running:

# Test app is listening on :3000
curl http://localhost:3000

# Check Nginx is forwarding correctly
curl https://YOUR_IP

4. Troubleshooting

Docker image pull fails:

# Verify you can authenticate
docker login ghcr.io

# Manually pull image
docker pull ghcr.io/username/project:latest

Container won't start:

# Check logs for errors
docker logs container_name

# Common issue: port already in use
lsof -i :3000  # Check what's using port 3000

Nginx not forwarding:

# Test Nginx config
sudo nginx -t

# Check if Nginx is running
sudo systemctl status nginx

# Reload Nginx
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Check VPS resources:

# Memory and CPU usage
docker stats container_name

# Disk space
df -h

# Running processes
ps aux | grep docker

5. Useful Commands

# Stop container
docker stop container_name

# Remove stopped container
docker rm container_name

# View image size
docker images

# Remove unused images
docker image prune

# SSH into running container
docker exec -it container_name sh