Deploy Your First Application

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed and configured:

• Node.js 18.0 or later (LTS recommended)
• npm or pnpm package manager
• A valid CloudNexus account with billing enabled
• Basic familiarity with terminal commands

1. Generate API Keys

The CLI requires authentication via personal access tokens with appropriate scopes.

1. Navigate to Dashboard → API & Keys
2. Click "Generate New Token"
3. Assign the following scopes: deploy:write, env:read, logs:read
4. Copy the token immediately. It won't be shown again.

2. Install the CloudNexus CLI

Install the official CLI globally using your preferred package manager:

# Using npm
npm install -g @cloudnexus/cli

# Verify installation
cnx --version

Alternatively, use Homebrew on macOS/Linux:

brew tap cloudnexus/tap
brew install cnx

3. Initialize & Authenticate

Log in to your account and scaffold a new project:

# Authenticate with your API token
cnx auth login --token cnx_sk_your_generated_token_here

# Create a new project directory
cnx init my-production-app

# Navigate into the project
cd my-production-app

The CLI will generate a cnx.config.js file with sensible defaults for your runtime.

4. Configure Environment

Edit cnx.config.js to match your deployment requirements:

module.exports = {
  name: 'my-production-app',
  runtime: 'nodejs18',
  region: 'us-east-1',
  env: {
    NODE_ENV: 'production',
    DB_HOST: 'process.env.DB_HOST',
    API_KEY: 'secret.ref.api_key_v1'
  },
  scaling: {
    min: 2,
    max: 20,
    targetCpu: 65
  },
  healthCheck: '/api/health'
};

5. Deploy to Production

Push your code and trigger the build pipeline:

# Build and deploy with zero-downtime rollout
cnx deploy --prod

# Monitor deployment in real-time
cnx logs follow

The CLI will:

• Bundle your application with native optimization
• Provision compute instances in your selected region
• Run health checks before routing traffic
• Enable automatic rollbacks on failure

6. Verify & Monitor

After deployment, validate your endpoint and configure monitoring:

# Get deployment URL
cnx apps info

# Test health endpoint
curl https://my-app.cnx.app/api/health

# Open real-time metrics dashboard
cnx monitor open

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

• "Authentication failed": Ensure your token hasn't expired. Run cnx auth refresh.
• "Build timed out": Check cnx.config.js buildCommand. Node 18+ requires explicit build scripts.
• "Health check failing": Verify your app responds with 2xx to the healthCheck path.

For advanced debugging, run with verbose logging: cnx deploy --debug