Strapi gives you many possible deployment options for your project or application. Strapi can be deployed on traditional hosting servers or services such as Heroku, AWS, Azure and others. The following documentation covers how to develop locally with Strapi and deploy Strapi with various hosting options.
If you are passing a number of configuration item values via environment variables which is always encouraged for production environment, read the section for [Dynamic Configuration](../configurations/configurations.md#dynamic-configurations). Here is an example:
If you want to host the administration on another server than the API, [please take a look at this dedicated section](../advanced/customize-admin.md#deployment).
## Heroku
This is a step-by-step guide for deploying a Strapi project on [Heroku](https://www.heroku.com/). Databases that work well with Strapi and Heroku are provided instructions on how to get started.
### Heroku Install Requirements
- You must have [Git installed and set-up locally](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-First-Time-Git-Setup).
- You must have a [free Heroku account](https://signup.heroku.com/) before doing these steps.
If you already have the Heroku CLI installed locally on your computer. Skip to [Login to Heroku](#_2-login-to-heroku-from-your-cli).
### 1. Heroku CLI Installation
Download and install the `Heroku CLI` for your operating system:
If you plan to use **MongoDB** with your project, [refer to the create a Strapi project with MongoDB section of the documentation](/3.0.0-beta.x/guides/databases.html#install-mongodb-locally) then, jump to step 4.
**Note:** When you use `--quickstart` to create a Strapi project locally, a **SQLite database** is used which is not compatible with Heroku. Therefore, another database option [must be chosen](#_6-heroku-database-set-up).
### 4. Update `.gitignore`
Add the following line at end of `.gitignore`:
`Path: ./my-project/.gitignore`
```
package-lock.json
```
Even if it is usually recommended to version this file, it may create issues on Heroku.
### 5. Init a Git repository and commit your project
Init the Git repository and commit yoru project.
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
cd my-project
git init
git add .
git commit -am "Initial Commit"
```
### 6. Create a Heroku project
Create a new Heroku project.
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
heroku create
```
(You can use `heroku create custom-project-name`, to have Heroku create a `custom-project-name.heroku.com` URL. Otherwise, Heroku will automatically generating a random project name (and URL) for you.)
::: warning NOTE
If you have a Heroku project app already created. You would use the following step to initialize your local project folder:
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
heroku git:remote -a your-heroku-app-name
```
:::
Your local development environment is now set-up and configured to work with Heroku. You have a new Strapi project and a new Heroku app ready to be configured to work with a database and with each other.
### 7. Heroku Database set-up
Below you will find database options when working with Heroku. Please choose the correct database (e.g. PostgreSQL, MongoDB, etc.) and follow those instructions.
Follow these steps to deploy your Strapi app to Heroku using **PostgreSQL**:
##### 1. Install the [Heroku Postgres addon](https://elements.heroku.com/addons/heroku-postgresql) for using Postgres.
To make things even easier, Heroku provides a powerful addon system. In this section, you are going to use the Heroku Postgres addon, which provides a free "Hobby Dev" plan. If you plan to deploy your app in production, it is highly recommended to switch to a paid plan.
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
heroku addons:create heroku-postgresql:hobby-dev
```
##### 2. Retrieve database credentials
The add-on automatically exposes the database credentials into a single environment variable accessible by your app. To retrieve it, type:
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
heroku config
```
This should print something like this: `DATABASE_URL: postgres://ebitxebvixeeqd:dc59b16dedb3a1eef84d4999sb4baf@ec2-50-37-231-192.compute-2.amazonaws.com: 5432/d516fp1u21ph7b`.
(This url is read like so: \*postgres:// **USERNAME** : **PASSWORD** @ **HOST** : **PORT** : **DATABASE_NAME\***)
##### 3. Set environment variables
Strapi expects a variable for each database connection configuration (host, username, etc.). So, from the url above, you have to set several environment variables in the Heroku config:
Unless you originally installed Strapi with PostgreSQL, you need to install the [pg](https://www.npmjs.com/package/pg) node module.
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
npm install pg --save
```
:::
::: tab "MongoDB" id="heroku-mongodb"
#### MongoDB Atlas
(Using Strapi and MongoDB requires different set-up and different configuration steps. You cannot use `--quickstart` to develop a `MongoDB` Strapi project.)
Please follow these steps the **deploy a Strapi app with MongoDB on Heroku**.
You must have completed the [steps to use Strapi with MongoDB Atlas in production](/3.0.0-beta.x/guides/databases.html#install-on-atlas-mongodb-atlas).
When you [set-up your MongoDB Atlas database](/3.0.0-beta.x/guides/databases.html#install-on-atlas-mongodb-atlas) you created and noted the five key/value pairs that correspond to your **MongoDB Atlas** database. These five keys are: `DATABASE_NAME`, `DATABASE_USERNAME`, `DATABASE_PASSWORD`, `DATABASE PORT`, and `DATABASE_HOST`.
Strapi expects a variable for each database connection detail (host, username, etc.). So, from **MongoDB Atlas**, you have to set the environment variables in the Heroku config (for **DATABASE_HOST** you need to surround the URL with **""**, and set **DATABASE_PORT** to nothing):
The deployment may take a few minutes. At the end, logs will display the url of your project (e.g. `https://mighty-taiga-80884.herokuapp.com`). You can also open your project using the command line:
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
heroku open
```
If you see the Strapi Welcome page, you have correctly set-up, configured and deployed your Strapi project on Heroku. You will now need to set-up your `admin user` as the production database is brand-new (and empty).
You can now continue with the [Tutorial - Creating an Admin User](/3.0.0-beta.x/getting-started/quick-start-tutorial.html#_3-create-an-admin-user), if you have any questions on how to proceed.
For security reasons, the Content Type Builder plugin is disabled in production. To update content structure, please make your changes locally and deploy again.
:::
---
### Project updates
When Strapi is deployed to Heroku, Heroku sets the environment variable to `NODE_ENV=production`. In `production mode` Strapi disables the content-type builder (for security reasons). Additionally, if you wanted to change the default production mode in Heroku, it wouldn't work as the file system is temporary. Strapi writes files to the server when you update the content-types and these updates would disappear when Heroku restarts the server.
Therefore, modifications that require writing to model creation or other json files, e.g. creating or changing content-types, require that you make those changes on your dev environment and then push the changes to Heroku.
As you continue developing your application with Strapi, you may want to use [version control](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/github-integration), or you can continue to use `Git push heroku master` to commit and push changes to Heroku directly.
`Path: ./my-project/`
```bash
git add .
git commit -am "Changes to my-project noted"
git push heroku master
heroku open
```
## Docker
::: tip
You can also deploy using [Docker](https://hub.docker.com/r/strapi/strapi)
:::
The method below describes regular deployment using the built-in mechanisms.
