Put it online

Before you deploy

• Run the API with NODE_ENV=production, your own JWT_SECRET, and CORS_ORIGIN and FRONTEND_URL set to the dashboard's public address. A production API refuses to start without the first two.
• Behind a reverse proxy (Nginx, Caddy, a load balancer), set TRUST_PROXY=1, so the sign-in limit counts visitors instead of the proxy.
• Leave DEMO_MODE and NEXT_PUBLIC_DEMO_MODE off, unless the deployment is a public demo.

• Environment variables

Before you deploy

Leave NEXT_PUBLIC_DEMO_MODE off unless the deployment is a public demo.

Both apps on one server with Docker

The docker-compose.yml that runs the template locally also runs it on a server. Give each app its own domain behind a web server that adds HTTPS, such as Caddy or Nginx, forwarding the dashboard's domain to port 3030 and the API's to port 8000.

1. 01

   Name the two addresses

   Create .env in the dashboard-2-full-stack folder, beside docker-compose.yml. The dashboard compiles the API's address into its JavaScript, and the API allows the dashboard's address in CORS_ORIGIN and FRONTEND_URL, both from these two lines.

   dashboard-2-full-stack/.envCopy

   DASHBOARD_URL=https://admin.your-domain.com
   API_URL=https://api.your-domain.com
2. 02

   Add your keys

   The API also reads back-end/.env when it exists, for the AI provider keys, R2 and the MCP key. Create it from .env.example and add TRUST_PROXY=1 behind your web server. The compose file sets the database, the port and NODE_ENV=production itself, and the API generates a JWT_SECRET into the data volume when you give none.

   Terminalin dashboard-2-full-stackCopy

   cp back-end/.env.example back-end/.env
3. 03

   Start it in the background

   Terminalin dashboard-2-full-stackCopy

   docker compose up --build -d

   Expected result: https://api.your-domain.com/api/health answers "status":"ok", and the dashboard's domain opens the sign-in page.

The services restart with the server. The database lives in the dashboard-2-data volume. After you change DASHBOARD_URL, API_URL or a port, run docker compose up --build -d again: the dashboard has to be built with the new address.

The API on its own

back-end has its own Dockerfile, so any host that builds from a Dockerfile can run the API alone. The container keeps its SQLite database in /data: mount a volume there, or the data is lost with the container. On a new volume it creates the database with the sample data once.

docker build -t dashboard-api .
docker run -d --restart unless-stopped -p 8000:8000 -v dashboard-data:/data -e CORS_ORIGIN=https://admin.your-domain.com -e FRONTEND_URL=https://admin.your-domain.com dashboard-api

The image already runs with NODE_ENV=production and its SQLite file in /data. Pass only the values you need, each with -e, such as -e GOOGLE_API_KEY=.... The usual way to run the API is still docker compose up --build at the package root, which starts it with the dashboard.

On a Node.js host without Docker, the build command is yarn build, the start command yarn start:prod, and yarn seed:prod runs once to create the tables. A SQLite file needs a persistent disk there; on a host without one, use MySQL.

• Production build of the API
• Use MySQL

The dashboard on Vercel

1. 01

   Put the dashboard in a private Git repository

   Push the dashboard's folder (front-end in the Full Stack, dashboard-2-front-end in the Admin Dashboard package) to a private repository on GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket. Your licence does not allow sharing the source code publicly.
2. 02

   Import it in Vercel

   Add a new project from that repository. Vercel detects Next.js; keep the default build settings. In the Full Stack repository, set the project's root directory to front-end.
3. 03

   Add the environment variables

   Add ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL_COREPACK with the value 1, so Vercel installs with the Yarn version package.json pins. Then NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL (your API with /api), NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBSOCKET_BASE_URL (the same address without /api) and NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL (the dashboard's own address). WEATHER_API_KEY is optional.
4. 04

   Deploy

   Start the deployment, then add your domain in the project's Domains settings, and add that address to the API's CORS_ORIGIN and FRONTEND_URL.

   Expected result: Your domain opens the sign-in page.

After you change a NEXT_PUBLIC_* variable, deploy again: the running app keeps the values it was built with.

The dashboard on a Node.js server

With your settings in the dashboard's .env, install, build and start:

corepack enable
yarn install
yarn build
yarn start

It answers on port 3030, or on PORT when the host sets one. Put a web server in front of it for your domain and HTTPS, and keep yarn start running with a process manager or a system service.

The dashboard as a Docker image

The dashboard's Dockerfile builds a standalone server on port 3030, run as a user without admin rights. The API's address is a build argument:

docker build -t dashboard-2 --build-arg NEXT_PUBLIC_API_BASE_URL=https://api.your-domain.com/api --build-arg NEXT_PUBLIC_WEBSOCKET_BASE_URL=https://api.your-domain.com --build-arg NEXT_PUBLIC_BASE_URL=https://admin.your-domain.com .
docker run -d --restart unless-stopped -p 3030:3030 dashboard-2

WEATHER_API_KEY is read when the container runs: add -e WEATHER_API_KEY=... to docker run.

After it is online

• Sign in at your dashboard's address, with /en and /ar, and check both languages.
• Every page tells search engines not to index it, through an X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow header set in next.config.js, because a signed-in dashboard does not belong in search results.