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SWAPNIL AHMMED SHISHIR
SWAPNIL AHMMED SHISHIR

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CI/CD guide to deploy your Node.js + Express + MySQL project to cPanel via FTP every time you push to GitHub.

🚀 GitHub Actions CI/CD for Node.js + Express + MySQL on cPanel via FTP

📁 Prerequisites

✅ A Node.js + Express project

✅ A cPanel hosting with FTP access

✅ A MySQL database set up in cPanel

✅ A GitHub repository

🔧 Step 1: Prepare Your Project

Make sure your project is structured like:

/my-app
  ├── public/
  ├── routes/
  ├── .env
  ├── index.js (main server)
  ├── package.json
  └── ...
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Also, ensure your .env file is ignored:

# .gitignore
.env
node_modules
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🔑 Step 2: Create FTP User in cPanel

  1. Log in to cPanel
  2. Go to FTP Accounts
  3. Create an FTP user and note down:
    • FTP Host (like ftp.yourdomain.com)
    • FTP Username
    • FTP Password
    • FTP Port: typically 21
    • FTP Path (like /public_html/subdomain/ or similar)

🧪 Step 3: Test FTP Access Locally

Use FileZilla or similar to test your credentials.

If successful, continue.

🧬 Step 4: Add Secrets in GitHub

Go to your GitHub repo → Settings → Secrets → Actions and add:

Name Value
FTP_HOST ftp.yourdomain.com
FTP_USERNAME Your FTP username
FTP_PASSWORD Your FTP password
FTP_PORT 21 (or as needed)
FTP_PATH /public_html/subdomain/

⚙️ Step 5: Add GitHub Action Workflow

Create a new file:

📄 .github/workflows/deploy.yml

name: 🚀 Deploy to cPanel via FTP

on:
  push:
    branches: [main] # or your default branch

jobs:
  ftp-deploy:
    name: 📦 Deploy using FTP
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: ⬇️ Checkout Repo
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: 📂 Upload via FTP
        uses: SamKirkland/FTP-Deploy-Action@v4.3.4
        with:
          server: ${{ secrets.FTP_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.FTP_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.FTP_PASSWORD }}
          protocol: ftp
          port: ${{ secrets.FTP_PORT }}
          local-dir: ./ # root of repo
          server-dir: ${{ secrets.FTP_PATH }}
          exclude: |
            **/.git*
            **/.github*
            node_modules/
            .env
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🧠 Optional Enhancements

  • Add .env.example for reference.
  • Add scripts like: 
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node index.js",
    "dev": "nodemon index.js"
  }
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🧪 Step 6: Push to GitHub 

git add .
git commit -m "Initial deploy with CI/CD"
git push origin main
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GitHub Actions will now:

  • Build your project (if needed)
  • Upload your files via FTP automatically to cPanel

🐞 Common Troubleshooting

Issue Fix
FTP login fails Double-check username, password, and port
Files not uploaded Make sure correct server-dir is set
Too many files skipped Check the exclude list

🛠️ MySQL Setup (in cPanel)

  1. Create MySQL Database
  2. Create MySQL User
  3. Assign user to database
  4. Update .env in cPanel with: 
   DB_HOST=localhost
   DB_USER=your_mysql_user
   DB_PASS=your_mysql_pass
   DB_NAME=your_database_name
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🎉 Done!

Your Express + Node.js server will now auto-deploy to cPanel every time you push to GitHub. 🔥

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