Deploy Any Web App on a DigitalOcean Droplet: Node, Static or Docker (2026)
Most deploy tutorials cover one kind of app. Real servers rarely stay that tidy. A single DigitalOcean Droplet often ends up hosting a Node API, a static marketing site and a container or two. This guide shows how to deploy all three on one Droplet, each on its own domain with HTTPS. Then we'll look at how ShipOwn handles the same mix from a desktop app. Step 1: Create the Droplet Create →…
The article explains how to deploy multiple types of web applications on a single DigitalOcean Droplet, including Node.js, static sites, and Docker containers. The process involves creating a Droplet, setting up SSH authentication, and configuring DNS records for each application domain.
For the Node.js API, the application is cloned from a GitHub repository, built with npm, and run using PM2. The static site is built with Vite, Astro, or plain HTML, and then served by Nginx from a release directory. Docker containers are used for other languages like Python, Go, and PHP, with Docker Compose set up to run the container and bind it to the necessary port.
The article then introduces ShipOwn, a desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux that simplifies deploying these applications to Linux servers over SSH. With ShipOwn, the process becomes more streamlined, requiring only five steps: connecting to the server, selecting the source code, reviewing the deployment plan, watching the build, and operating the application. ShipOwn supports Node.js apps running on PM2, static sites served by Nginx, and Docker containers.
ShipOwn also provides features like automatic HTTPS setup, rollout management, and easy rollback options for each application type. The tool helps maintain disk space by showing Docker image usage and allows for easy rollback to previous releases. Despite the complexity of managing multiple application types, ShipOwn offers a unified approach, making it easier to maintain a mixed server environment.
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