Use environment variables (never hardcode secrets), set NODE_ENV=production, use PM2 for process management, enable clustering (all CPU cores), set up logging (Winston), monitor (Sentry, CloudWatch), use HTTPS (Let's Encrypt), rate limit, backup database, add health check endpoint, and set up CI/CD.
Provision a server (AWS EC2), install Node.js/PM2/Nginx, clone code and npm install, configure .env with production secrets, start with PM2, configure Nginx as reverse proxy, add SSL with Let's Encrypt, and set up CI/CD for automated deployments.
PM2 is a process manager: keeps the app running (survives SSH disconnect), auto-restarts on crash, supports cluster mode (multiple instances per CPU core), captures logs, and starts on system boot. Use pm2 start, pm2 save, and pm2 startup.
Create a Dockerfile: FROM node:20-alpine, WORKDIR /app, COPY package*.json, RUN npm ci --production, COPY ., EXPOSE 3000, CMD ['node', 'src/server.js']. Create docker-compose.yml with build, ports, env_file, and restart: unless-stopped. Use .dockerignore to exclude node_modules and .env.
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