Deploy NextJs and NestJs as a single application

Hey there! I’m excited to share how you can configure NestJS to work seamlessly on a single host. But first, let me explain why this setup has been my top choice for managing both frontend and backend for so long.

Next.js is a powerhouse when it comes to kickstarting new projects. It comes packed with features like built-in routing, server-side rendering (SSR), and caching that help you hit the ground running. Plus, Next.js has its own internal API capabilities, letting you manage tasks like caching and data prep right within the framework. This means you can focus more on building your app and less on setting up the infrastructure.

But sometimes you need something more powerful for the server. That’s where Nest.js steps in. This framework is so powerful that it can handle not just the middleware duties between your backend and frontend, but can also act as a robust backend solution all on its own. Therefore NestJS is a good addition to Next.js in this case allowing using a single programming language for frontend and backend.

Why a single host?

Simply put, it’s incredibly convenient. With just a git pull and a docker-compose up -d, you’re ready to go. There is no need to worry about CORS or juggling ports. Plus, it streamlines the delivery process, making everything run more smoothly and efficiently. As a disadvantage, I can point out that this does not suit big projects with a high load.

1. First, let's define the folder structure of your repository

2. Let's declare a docker file for the server

File: ./docker-compose.yml

services:
    nginx:
        image: nginx:alpine
        ports:
            - "80:80"
        volumes:
            - "./docker/nginx/conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d"
        depends_on:
            - frontend
            - backend
        networks:
            - internal-network
            - external-network

    frontend:
        image: ${FRONTEND_IMAGE}
        restart: always
        networks:
            - internal-network

    backend:
        image: ${BACKEND_IMAGE}
        environment:
            NODE_ENV: ${NODE_ENV}
            POSTGRES_HOST: ${POSTGRES_HOST}
            POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER}
            POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
            POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
        depends_on:
            - postgres
        restart: always
        networks:
            - internal-network

    postgres:
        image: postgres:12.1-alpine
        container_name: postgres
        volumes:
            - "./docker/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
        environment:
            POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER}
            POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
            POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB}
        ports:
            - "5432:5432"

networks:
    internal-network:
        driver: bridge

    external-network:
        driver: bridge

Simply put, it’s incredibly convenient. With just a git pull and a docker-compose up -d, you’re ready to go. There is no need to worry about CORS or juggling ports. Plus, it streamlines the delivery process, making everything run more smoothly and efficiently. As a disadvantage, I can point out that this does not suit big projects with a high load.

3. Another docker file for development mode

For development mode, we don’t need container service for the backend and frontend because we will run them locally.

File: ./docker-compose.dev.yml

version: '3'

services:
    nginx:
        image: nginx:alpine
        ports:
            - "80:80"
        volumes:
            - "./docker/nginx/conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d"

    postgres:
        image: postgres:12.1-alpine
        container_name: postgres
        volumes:
            - "./docker/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
        environment:
            POSTGRES_USER: postgres
            POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
            POSTGRES_DB: postgres
        ports:
            - "5432:5432"

4. Docker file for backend

File: ./backend/Dockerfile

FROM node:18-alpine AS deps
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
WORKDIR /app

COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
RUN  npm install

FROM node:18-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .

ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1

RUN npm run build

FROM node:18-alpine AS runner
WORKDIR /app

ENV NODE_ENV production
ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1

RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs
RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs

COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --from=builder /app/package.json ./package.json

RUN mkdir -p /app/backups && chown -R nextjs:nodejs /app/backups && chmod -R 777 /app/backups

USER nextjs

EXPOSE 3010

ENV PORT 3010

CMD ["node", "dist/src/main"]

## 5. Docker file for frontend
File: ./frontend/Dockerfile

FROM node:18-alpine AS deps
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
WORKDIR /app

COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
RUN  npm install

FROM node:18-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .

ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1

RUN npm run build

FROM node:18-alpine AS runner
WORKDIR /app

ENV NODE_ENV production
ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1

RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs
RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs

COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next ./.next
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/public ./public
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --from=builder /app/package.json ./package.json

USER nextjs

EXPOSE 3000

ENV PORT 3000

CMD ["npm", "start"]

6. Ngnix configuration

In this step, we configure Nginx to act as a reverse proxy for our Next.js frontend and Nest.js backend. The Nginx configuration allows you to route requests seamlessly between the frontend and backend, all while serving them from the same host.

File: /docker/nginx/conf.d/default.conf

server {
    listen 80;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://host.docker.internal:3000;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

    location /api {
        proxy_pass http://host.docker.internal:3010;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

This configuration listens on port 80 and routes general traffic to the Next.js frontend on port 3000, while any requests to /api are forwarded to the Nest.js backend on port 3010.

7. NestJs global pregix

Since we use the same host we need NestJs to be available on /apipath. To do this we need to setGlobalPrefix — API.

File: ./backend/src/main.js

import { NestFactory } from '@nestjs/core';
import { AppModule } from './app.module';

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule, { cors: true  });
  app.setGlobalPrefix('api');
  await app.listen(3010);
}
bootstrap();

8. Frontend

No configuration is required on the frontend but only taking into account that all the server requests should be called relative to /api path.

9. Run locally

cd frontend
npm run dev
cd ../backend
npm run start:dev
cd ../
docker-compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up -d

Now, we can check our website by opening localhost in the browser. In the example, we have 1 request on the server and another on the client. Both these requests are called from the Next.Js and processed by Nest.Js.

10. Deploy and run on the server via GitHub

This article explores how to deploy a project to a server using Docker Registry and GitHub Actions. The process begins with creating Docker images for both the backend and frontend in the Docker Registry. After that, you’ll need to set up a GitHub repository and configure the necessary secrets for seamless deployment:

DOCKERHUB_USERNAME
DOCKERHUB_TOKEN
DOCKER_FRONTEND_IMAGE
DOCKER_BACKEND_IMAGE
REMOTE_SERVER_HOST
REMOTE_SERVER_USERNAME
REMOTE_SERVER_SSH_KEY
REMOTE_SERVER_SSH_PORT

The backside of using one repository for the backend and frontend is that each time you push something both images are rebuilt. To optimize it we can use these conditions:

if: contains(github.event_name, ‘push’) && !startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, ‘frontend’)

if: contains(github.event_name, ‘push’) && !startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, ‘backend’)

It makes it possible to rebuild only the image you heed by specifying the commit message.

File: ./github/workflows/deploy.yml

name: deploy nextjs and nestjs to GITHUB

on:
  push:
    branches: [ "main" ]

jobs:
  build-and-push-frontend:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    if: contains(github.event_name, 'push') && !startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, 'backend')

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

      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Build and push frontend to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: frontend
          file: frontend/Dockerfile
          push: true
          tags: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_FRONTEND_IMAGE }}:latest

      - name: SSH into the remote server and deploy frontend
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@master
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_SSH_KEY }}
          port: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_SSH_PORT }}
          script: |
            cd website/
            docker rmi -f ${{ secrets.DOCKER_FRONTEND_IMAGE }}:latest
            docker-compose down
            docker-compose up -d

  build-and-push-backend:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    if: contains(github.event_name, 'push') && !startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, 'frontend')

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

      - name: Login to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v1
        with:
          username: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Build and push backend to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
        with:
          context: backend
          file: backend/Dockerfile
          push: true
          tags: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_BACKEND_IMAGE }}:latest

      - name: SSH into the remote server and deploy backend
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@master
        with:
          host: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_HOST }}
          username: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_SSH_KEY }}
          port: ${{ secrets.REMOTE_SERVER_SSH_PORT }}
          script: |
            cd website/
            docker rmi -f ${{ secrets.DOCKER_BACKEND_IMAGE }}:latest
            docker-compose down
            docker-compose up -d=

Repository: https://github.com/xvandevx/blog-examples/tree/main/nextjs-nestjs-deploy

Recap

This article is a hands-on guide to deploying Next.js and Nest.js together on a single server, making it a go-to solution for developers who want a streamlined setup. By combining the strengths of Next.js for frontend and Nest.js for backend, I showed how to efficiently manage both parts of your application using Docker and GitHub Actions. It simplifies the deployment process, allowing you to focus on building your app rather than juggling multiple configurations. Perfect for those looking to get a full-stack project up and running quickly with minimal hassle.