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Heroku
This is a step-by-step guide for deploying a Strapi project on Heroku. 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.
- You must have a free Heroku account before doing these steps.
If you already have the Heroku CLI installed locally on your computer. Skip to Login to Heroku.
1. Heroku CLI Installation
Download and install the Heroku CLI for your operating system:
:::: tabs
::: tab "Mac O/S" Download the installer
Also available via Homebrew:
brew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku
:::
::: tab Ubuntu Run the following from your terminal:
sudo snap install --classic heroku
:::
::: tab Windows Download the appropriate installer for your Windows installation:
::::
2. Login to Heroku from your CLI
Next, you need to login to Heroku from your computer.
heroku login
Follow the instructions and return to your command line.
3. Create a new project (or use an existing one)
Create a new Strapi project (if you want to deploy an existing project go to step 4).
::: tip NOTE
If you plan to use MongoDB with your project, refer to the create a Strapi project with MongoDB section of the documentation then, jump to step 4.
:::
Path: ./
:::: tabs
::: tab yarn
Use yarn to install the Strapi project (recommended). Install yarn with these docs
yarn create strapi-app my-project --quickstart
:::
::: tab npx
Use npm/npx to install the Strapi project
npx create-strapi-app my-project --quickstart
:::
::::
::: tip
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.
:::
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 your project.
Path: ./my-project/
cd my-project
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial Commit"
6. Create a Heroku project
Create a new Heroku project.
Path: ./my-project/
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 generate a random project name (and URL) for you.
::: tip 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/
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.
:::: tabs
::: tab PostgreSQL
Heroku Postgres
Follow these steps to deploy your Strapi app to Heroku using PostgreSQL:
1. Install the Heroku Postgres addon 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 switching to a paid plan.
Path: ./my-project/
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/
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 Database variables automatically
Strapi expects a variable for each database connection configuration (host, username, etc.). So, from the url above, we will deconstruct that environment variable using pg-connection-string. Heroku will sometimes change the above url, so it's best to automate the deconstruction of it, as Heroku will automatically update the DATABASE_URL environment variable.
Install the package:
With npm:
npm install pg-connection-string --save
With yarn:
yarn add pg-connection-string
4. Create your Heroku database config file
Create a new database.js in a new env folder. By default Heroku applies the NODE_ENV environment variable as production. When you run locally you should be using the ./config/database.js which should be set to use SQLite.
Path: ./config/env/production/database.js
const parse = require('pg-connection-string').parse;
const config = parse(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
defaultConnection: 'default',
connections: {
default: {
connector: 'bookshelf',
settings: {
client: 'postgres',
host: config.host,
port: config.port,
database: config.database,
username: config.user,
password: config.password,
},
options: {
ssl: false,
},
},
},
});
5. Install the pg node module
Unless you originally installed Strapi with PostgreSQL, you need to install the pg node module.
Path: ./my-project/
npm install pg --save
:::
::: tab 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 - through 4. Retrieve database credentials.
1. Set environment variables
When you set-up your MongoDB Atlas database you noted a connection string. Similar to this:
mongodb://paulbocuse:<password>@strapidatabase-shard-00-00-fxxx6c.mongodb.net:27017,strapidatabase-shard-00-01-fxxxc.mongodb.net:27017,strapidatabase-shard-00-02-fxxxc.mongodb.net:27017/test?ssl=true&replicaSet=strapidatabase-shard-0&authSource=admin&retryWrites=true&w=majority
So, from MongoDB Atlas, you have to set two environment variables in the Heroku config (for DATABASE_URI and DATABASE_NAME). Set the environment variables using the following commands:
heroku config:set DATABASE_URI="mongodb://paulbocuse:<password>@strapidatabase-shard-00-00-fxxx6c.mongodb.net:27017,strapidatabase-shard-00-01-fxxxc.mongodb.net:27017,strapidatabase-shard-00-02-fxxxc.mongodb.net:27017/test?ssl=true&replicaSet=strapidatabase-shard-0&authSource=admin&retryWrites=true&w=majority"
heroku config:set DATABASE_NAME="my-database-name"
Please replace the <password> and my-database-name values with the your actual values.
2. Update your database config file
Path: ./config/database.js.
module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
defaultConnection: 'default',
connections: {
default: {
connector: 'mongoose',
settings: {
uri: env('DATABASE_URI'),
},
options: {
ssl: true,
},
},
},
});
If you need to configure the connection differently (e.g using host,port...) you should set the default database config like so:
Path: ./config/database.js.
module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
defaultConnection: 'default',
connections: {
default: {
connector: 'mongoose',
settings: {},
options: {},
},
},
});
Then set the development and the production configurations separatly:
Path: ./config/env/development/database.js.
module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
defaultConnection: 'default',
connections: {
default: {
connector: 'mongoose',
settings: {
host: env('DATABASE_HOST'),
port: env.int('DATABASE_PORT'),
database: env('DATABASE_NAME'),
username: env('DATABASE_USERNAME'),
password: env('DATABASE_PASSWORD'),
},
options: {},
},
},
});
and finally for the production env:
Path: ./config/env/production/database.js.
module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
defaultConnection: 'default',
connections: {
default: {
connector: 'mongoose',
settings: {
uri: env('DATABASE_URI'),
},
options: {
ssl: true,
},
},
},
});
:::
::::
8. Commit your changes
Path: ./my-project/
git add .
git commit -m "Update database config"
9. Deploy
Path: ./my-project/
git push heroku master
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/
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, if you have any questions on how to proceed.
::: warning 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, or you can continue to use Git push heroku master to commit and push changes to Heroku directly.
Path: ./my-project/
git add .
git commit -am "Changes to my-project noted"
git push heroku master
heroku open
File Uploads
Like with project updates on Heroku, the file system doesn't support local uploading of files as they will be wiped when Heroku "Cycles" the dyno. This type of file system is called ephemeral, which means the file system only lasts until the dyno is restarted (with Heroku this happens any time you redeploy or during their regular restart which can happen every few hours or every day).
Due to Heroku's filesystem you will need to use an upload provider such as AWS S3, Cloudinary, or Rackspace. You can view the documentation for installing providers here and you can see a list of providers from both Strapi and the community on npmjs.com.
Gzip
As of version 3.2.1, Strapi uses koa-compress v5, which enables Brotli compression by default. At the time of writing, the default configuration for Brotli results in poor performance, causing very slow response times and potentially response timeouts. If you plan on enabling the gzip middleware, it is recommended that you disable Brotli or define better configuration params.
To disable Brotli, provide the following configuration in config/middleware.js.
gzip: {
enabled: true,
options: {
br: false
}
},
For more on Brotli configuration for koa-compress, reference this issue.