# How can I deploy my Hexabot using NGINX ? ### Introduction This documentation outlines two methods for deploying your Hexabot project in a production environment using NGINX and Let's Encrypt for SSL certificate : 1. [**Method 1: Using Nginx as a service and Certbot for SSL**](#method-1-using-nginx-as-a-service-and-certbot-for-ssl) 2. [**Method 2: Using Dockerized Nginx and Certbot services**](#method-2-using-dockerized-nginx-and-certbot-services) ### Prerequisites Before starting, ensure you have the following: #### **Step 1: Server Requirements** * A server running a Linux distribution with SSH enabled. * These instructions are based on Ubuntu, so adapt as needed for other distributions. #### Step 2: Install Required Software * #### Install Docker {% content-ref url="../developer-guide/setting-up-docker-for-development-and-production" %} [setting-up-docker-for-development-and-production](https://docs.hexabot.ai/developer-guide/setting-up-docker-for-development-and-production) {% endcontent-ref %} * #### Install NPM {% content-ref url="../developer-guide/setup-node.js-with-nvm" %} [setup-node.js-with-nvm](https://docs.hexabot.ai/developer-guide/setup-node.js-with-nvm) {% endcontent-ref %} *** #### Step 3: Setup Hexabot project 1. Install the Hexabot CLI: ```bash npm install -g hexabot-cli ``` 2. Create new project: ```bash hexabot create my-chatbot cd my-chatbot/ ``` Or clone an existing project of yours: ```bash git clone git@github.com:YOUR_ORG/my-chatbot.git cd my-chatbot/ ``` 3. Environment Setup: To configure the environment variables, use the following command: ```bash hexabot init ``` This command will copy the `.env.example` file to `.env` in the `./docker` directory if the file does not already exist 4. Update your `.env` file for production, especially the following ones:
Variable NameExample ValueEnv variable description
NODE_ENVproductionEnvironment Mode
APP_DOMAINmychatbot.aiApplication Domain Name
API_ORIGINhttps://mychatbot.ai/apiThe API endpoint will be used to communicate with the backend
FRONTEND_BASE_URLhttps://mychatbot.aiThe API endpoint will be used to communicate with the frontend
FRONTEND_ORIGINhttp://mychatbot.ai, https://mychatbot.aiThe origins that will be accepted by the API. A list of permitted origins for cross-origin requests
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_ORIGINhttps://mychatbot.ai/apiNext.js API endpoint
JWT_SECRET346998ba1f171f107433Secret to encrypt JWT token
SESSION_SECRET27feaf70d2c78892bf49Secret to encrypt session token
HTTPS_ENABLEDtrueHttps setting
INVITATION_JWT_SECRET51c8ea00d82eb10ee226Secret to encrypt invitation token
PASSWORD_RESET_JWT_SECRET5ee97916017176d1ca6cSecret to encrypt reset password token
CONFIRM_ACCOUNT_SECRET80f74dce70e5385bf80bSecret to encrypt confirm account token
MONGO_USERmy_mongo_usernameMongodb username
MONGO_PASSWORDmy_mongo_passwordMongodb password
AUTH_TOKENc97643c1c1e5e9dc5745Secret to encrypt NLU token
Note that you can also adjust the default token expirations durations as needed. {% hint style="info" %} To be able to send email you will need to configure SMTP. Learn how to configure SMTP environment variables by following our detailed [SMTP setup guide](https://docs.hexabot.ai/developer-guide/smtp-configuration-and-emails)[.](https://docs.hexabot.ai/developer-guide/smtp-configuration-and-emails) {% endhint %} ### **Method 1 : Using Nginx as a service and Certbot for SSL** #### Step 1: Run your Hexabot project in production mode: {% hint style="info" %} If you're starting with a fresh installation and not using a DB backup, it's recommended to run Hexabot in development mode the first time. This allows for automatic seeding of essential data into the DB. {% endhint %} ```bash hexabot start # Or include additional services you may want to use hexabot start --services ollama,influxdb ``` Note that this command will start all the services (api, frontend, mongodb, ...) as Docker containers and other optional services that may provide. #### Step 2: Install Nginx Deploying an Hexabot project on production requires you to setup a HTTP Web Server like Apache2, HAProxy or Nginx to secure communications using SSL, establish access per domain name, and a lot of other capabilities such as rate limiting for example to help protect against abuse and prevent server overload. In this guide, we will walk you through a typical HTTP Web Server setup using Nginx and Certbot for SSL certificate generation. 1. Update the system: ```bash sudo apt update ``` 2. Install Nginx: ```bash sudo apt install nginx ``` 3. Verify the Nginx installation: ```bash nginx -v ``` 4. Start Nginx: ```bash sudo systemctl start nginx ``` 5. Check the Nginx status: ```bash sudo systemctl status nginx ``` *** #### Step 3: Configure Nginx 1. Replace Nginx server configuration with the following : **/etc/nginx/sites-available/default**. ```bash server { listen 80; server_name mychatbot.ai; # You will need to update this to use your own domain server_tokens off; client_max_body_size 20M; location / { proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto https; proxy_set_header X-Url-Scheme $scheme; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_redirect off; proxy_pass http://localhost:8080; # Make sure to use the port configured in .env file } location /api/ { rewrite ^/api/?(.*)$ /$1 break; proxy_pass http://localhost:4000; # Make sure to use the port configured in .env file proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $host; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Server $host; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; proxy_set_header Connection "Upgrade"; proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy false; proxy_pass_request_headers on; } location ~* \.io { rewrite ^/api/?(.*)$ /$1 break; proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr; proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for; proxy_set_header Host $http_host; proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy false; proxy_pass http://localhost:4000; # Make sure to use the port configured in .env file proxy_redirect off; proxy_http_version 1.1; proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade; proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade"; } } ``` #### Step 4: Generate SSL certificate using Certbot 1. Install Certbot: ```bash sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx ``` 2. Obtain an SSL certificate: ```bash sudo certbot --nginx ``` 3. (Optional) Automate SSL renewal: ```bash sudo crontab -e ``` 4. Add the following line: ``` 0 12 * * * certbot renew --quiet ``` **Step 5: Reload Nginx with new configuration** 1. Test configuration syntax: ```bash sudo nginx -t ``` If you get an error please make sure you don't have any syntax error in `/etc/nginx/sites-available/default` 2. Reload Nginx with new configuration: ```bash sudo systemctl reload nginx ``` *** Access your domain using HTTPS (eg. ) to check if you have successfully deployed your Hexabot project using Nginx! 🚀🎉. Feel free to ask for support from the community on our Discord channel. ## **Method 2: Using Dockerized Nginx and Certbot services** : This guide will help you set up Nginx with SSL using Docker and Certbot for your Hexabot project. #### Step 1: Copy Required Files for Dockerized Nginx and Certbot To use the Dockerized version of Nginx and Certbot: 1. Download the following files from the Hexabot GitHub repository: * docker/nginx * docker/docker-compose.nginx.yml * docker/docker-compose.nginx.prod.yml * docker/init-letsencrypt.sh 2. Copy these files under the `my-chatbot/docker` directory of your project. #### Step 2: Initialize SSL with Certbot 1. Navigate to the `my-chatbot/docker` directory: ```sh cd my-chatbot/docker ``` 2. **Optional**: If you'd like to test your setup without hitting request limits for SSL certificates, set the staging variable to 1 in the `init-letsencrypt.sh` script before running it: ```sh staging=1 ``` After confirming the setup, set the `staging` variable back to `0` to request live certificates. 3. Run the `init-letsencrypt.sh` script: Make sure to set the `APP_DOMAIN` variable to your application domain name in the`.env` file. It's recommended also to use a valid email address so make sure to set the `SSL_EMAIL` variable as well. ```sh APP_DOMAIN=mychatbot.ai SSL_EMAIL=hello@hexabot.ai ``` You can test the DNS configuration by running one of these commands: ```sh nslookup mychatbot.ai ``` Or ```sh dig mychatbot.ai ``` Make the `init-letsencrypt.sh` script executable by granting it execute permissions. ```sh chmod +x init-letsencrypt.sh ``` Now you will be able to run the script ```sh ./init-letsencrypt.sh ``` #### Step 3: Verify Deployment Once the script completes, run `docker ps` verify that your Nginx and Certbot docker containers are up and running. Access your Hexabot instance via the domain you specified (e.g., `https://mychatbot.ai`) to check if SSL certificates have been generated and are properly installed.