Other CMS (Drupal, Joomla, Ghost)Advanced

Strapi Headless CMS on DomainIndia VPS

ByDomain India Team·DomainIndia Engineering

4 min readPublished 23 Apr 2026Updated 22 Jun 2026152 views

Strapi Headless CMS on DomainIndia VPS

TL;DR

Strapi is the most popular open-source headless CMS — a Node.js admin panel that generates a REST or GraphQL API from content types you define. Perfect for decoupled architectures: Strapi serves content, your frontend (React, Vue, Next.js) consumes it. This guide deploys a production Strapi on DomainIndia VPS.

Headless vs traditional CMS

Traditional (WordPress)	Headless (Strapi)
Single repo, HTML+CSS+JS	Separate backend (API) + frontend (any)
Template layer coupled to content	API-first, zero presentation
Hard to reuse across web+mobile+IoT	One API serves all clients
PHP ecosystem	Node.js ecosystem
Plugins often fragile	TypeScript SDK + custom controllers

Pick Strapi when:

You need the same content in web + mobile + email
You want developers to build custom frontends with React/Vue/Next/Flutter
Editorial team wants a friendly UI to manage content
You'll outgrow WordPress for content schema complexity

Requirements

DomainIndia VPS (2+ GB RAM; 4 GB for production with Postgres)
Node.js 20+
PostgreSQL (recommended) or MySQL/MariaDB
nginx for reverse proxy + SSL

Step 1 — Create Strapi project

On your laptop first (faster dev loop):

bash

npx create-strapi-app@latest my-cms --quickstart
# Quickstart uses SQLite (fine for dev)

Visit http://localhost:1337/admin — create admin account.

Create content types (e.g. "Article" with title, body, author, thumbnail). Strapi auto-generates the API endpoints.

Test API:

bash

curl http://localhost:1337/api/articles

Step 2 — Prepare production config

Edit config/database.ts for production:

typescript

export default ({ env }) => ({
  connection: {
    client: 'postgres',
    connection: {
      host: env('DATABASE_HOST', 'localhost'),
      port: env.int('DATABASE_PORT', 5432),
      database: env('DATABASE_NAME', 'strapi'),
      user: env('DATABASE_USERNAME', 'strapi'),
      password: env('DATABASE_PASSWORD'),
      ssl: env.bool('DATABASE_SSL', false),
    },
    pool: { min: 2, max: 10 },
  },
});

config/server.ts:

typescript

export default ({ env }) => ({
  host: env('HOST', '0.0.0.0'),
  port: env.int('PORT', 1337),
  url: env('PUBLIC_URL', 'https://cms.yourcompany.com'),
  proxy: true,   // behind nginx
  app: {
    keys: env.array('APP_KEYS'),
  },
});

Step 3 — Setup VPS

bash

# On VPS as root
sudo dnf install -y nodejs postgresql-server postgresql-contrib nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx git
# or Ubuntu:
# curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo bash -
# sudo apt install -y nodejs postgresql nginx certbot python3-certbot-nginx git

# PostgreSQL setup
sudo postgresql-setup --initdb
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql
sudo -u postgres psql <<EOF
CREATE DATABASE strapi;
CREATE USER strapi WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'changeme';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE strapi TO strapi;
EOF

# Create app user
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash strapi
sudo su - strapi

Step 4 — Deploy code

bash

# As strapi user
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/yourcompany/my-cms.git
cd my-cms

npm ci

Create .env:

HOST=0.0.0.0
PORT=1337
NODE_ENV=production
PUBLIC_URL=https://cms.yourcompany.com

DATABASE_HOST=localhost
DATABASE_PORT=5432
DATABASE_NAME=strapi
DATABASE_USERNAME=strapi
DATABASE_PASSWORD=changeme
DATABASE_SSL=false

APP_KEYS=key1,key2,key3,key4
API_TOKEN_SALT=random-long-string
ADMIN_JWT_SECRET=another-random-string
TRANSFER_TOKEN_SALT=yet-another
JWT_SECRET=one-more-random-string

Generate random values:

bash

node -e "console.log(require('crypto').randomBytes(32).toString('hex'))"

Build the admin panel:

bash

NODE_ENV=production npm run build

First run to create admin:

bash

npm start
# Visit https://cms.yourcompany.com/admin — create admin account
# Ctrl+C when done

Step 5 — systemd service

/etc/systemd/system/strapi.service:

ini

[Unit]
Description=Strapi CMS
After=network.target postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=strapi
Group=strapi
WorkingDirectory=/home/strapi/my-cms
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /home/strapi/my-cms/node_modules/.bin/strapi start
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5

EnvironmentFile=/home/strapi/my-cms/.env

# Hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ReadWritePaths=/home/strapi

StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start:

bash

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now strapi
sudo journalctl -u strapi -f

Step 6 — nginx reverse proxy

/etc/nginx/conf.d/strapi.conf:

nginx

upstream strapi { server 127.0.0.1:1337; }

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name cms.yourcompany.com;

    client_max_body_size 100M;   # for uploads

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://strapi;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $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_read_timeout 120s;
    }
}

Test + SSL:

bash

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d cms.yourcompany.com

Step 7 — Frontend integration

Generate API token in Admin → Settings → API Tokens.

Next.js:

typescript

async function getArticles() {
  const res = await fetch(`${process.env.STRAPI_URL}/api/articles?populate=*`, {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.STRAPI_TOKEN}` },
    next: { revalidate: 60 },
  });
  const json = await res.json();
  return json.data;
}

Vue/Nuxt:

javascript

const { data } = await useFetch('/api/articles?populate=*', {
  baseURL: 'https://cms.yourcompany.com',
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${config.strapiToken}` },
});

React Native:

Same pattern; use react-query or swr for caching.

Step 8 — Media uploads → S3/R2

By default Strapi stores uploads on local disk — doesn't survive VPS rebuild. Use object storage:

bash

npm install @strapi/provider-upload-aws-s3

config/plugins.ts:

typescript

export default ({ env }) => ({
  upload: {
    config: {
      provider: 'aws-s3',
      providerOptions: {
        credentials: {
          accessKeyId: env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),
          secretAccessKey: env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),
        },
        region: 'auto',
        endpoint: env('AWS_ENDPOINT'),   // e.g. Cloudflare R2 endpoint
        params: { Bucket: env('AWS_BUCKET') },
      },
    },
  },
});

See our Cloudflare R2 article for zero-egress storage setup.

Step 9 — Backups

Daily Postgres + uploads backup:

bash

# /etc/cron.d/strapi-backup
0 3 * * * strapi /bin/bash -c '
  pg_dump -h localhost -U strapi strapi | gzip > /home/strapi/backups/db-$(date +%Y%m%d).sql.gz &&
  tar czf /home/strapi/backups/uploads-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz -C /home/strapi/my-cms/public/uploads . &&
  find /home/strapi/backups -name "*.gz" -mtime +30 -delete
'

See Automated Backups for off-site copies.

Plugins worth installing

Internationalization (i18n) — multi-language content
Users & Permissions — JWT auth for API
Content Versioning — track edits
SEO plugin — meta tags per entry
GraphQL plugin — GraphQL alongside REST
Meilisearch / Algolia plugin — search

Common pitfalls

FAQ

Q Strapi vs Directus vs Payload CMS?

Strapi — largest ecosystem, most plugins. Directus — SQL-first, excellent DB integration. Payload — TypeScript-native, newer but very clean. All valid; Strapi is the safest pick in 2026.

Q Strapi Cloud vs self-hosted?

Strapi Cloud ($15-$300+/mo) — zero ops but US-based. Self-host on DomainIndia VPS — lower cost, data sovereignty in India, more setup work.

Q Scalability?

Strapi handles 1000+ req/sec on a 4 GB VPS with caching. For bigger loads, horizontal scale with load balancer + Redis session/cache.

Q Can I use Strapi for e-commerce?

Possible but not ideal — no built-in cart/checkout. Pair with Medusa.js or use a dedicated e-commerce platform.

Q Is Strapi free?

Community Edition (free, self-host) is feature-complete. Enterprise Edition adds SSO, audit logs, premium support.

Run your own Strapi CMS on a DomainIndia VPS — full control, data in India. Get started

Was this article helpful?

Your feedback helps us improve our documentation

Still need help? Submit a support ticket

Mastering Drupal: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide1564

Mastering Joomla: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide1464

Still need help?

Our support team can assist you directly.

Submit Ticket

Strapi Headless CMS on DomainIndia VPS

In this article

Strapi Headless CMS on DomainIndia VPS

Headless vs traditional CMS

Requirements

Step 1 — Create Strapi project

Step 2 — Prepare production config

Step 3 — Setup VPS

Step 4 — Deploy code

Step 5 — systemd service

Step 6 — nginx reverse proxy

Step 7 — Frontend integration

Step 8 — Media uploads → S3/R2

Step 9 — Backups

Plugins worth installing

Common pitfalls

FAQ

Was this article helpful?

Related Articles

Still need help?