Reference

Deployment

Ship your Crescent.js application to production.

Overview

Because Crescent.js is a standard Node.js application, you can deploy it to any platform that runs Node.js — a VPS, a container, or a PaaS.

Building

Create an optimized production build of your app:

bash

crescent build

The build step bundles your pages, layers, and functions into a single production artifact ready to serve.

Serving

Run the production build with the same CLI you use in development. Configure the port through the PORT environment variable:

bash

PORT=8080 crescent run build/

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`PORT`	Port to listen on
`AUTH_SECRET`	Secret used to sign auth tokens
`DATABASE_FILE`	Path to the database file

Persistent storage

If your host uses ephemeral filesystems, mount a persistent volume for the database file so data survives restarts.

Docker

Here is a minimal Dockerfile for deploying your app:

Dockerfile

FROM node:20-alpine

WORKDIR /app

COPY package.json ./
RUN npm install

COPY . .
RUN npx crescent build

EXPOSE 8080

CMD ["node", "build/server.js"]

Deployment Platforms

VPS / Cloud VM — run the production build behind a reverse proxy
Docker — use the Dockerfile above on any container platform
PaaS — most Node.js platforms detect the build and start commands automatically

Next Steps

API Reference — explore every method
Configuration Guide — finalize your config