This article describes how to deploy a static site on Dokku, including activating Let’s encrypt signed certificates for the domain.
Configure DNS#
Register the domain and point it to the Dokku server. I usually set these records in the domain’s DNS zone:
A @ 7200 $DOKKU_SERVER_IPv4
A * 7200 $DOKKU_SERVER_IPv4
CNAME www 7200 $APP_DOMAIN
AAAA @ 7200 $DOKKU_SERVER_IPv6
AAAA * 7200 $DOKKU_SERVER_IPv6
Create a git repository#
Create a folder and turn it into a git repository:
mkdir static-dokku
cd static-dokku
git init .
Add an index.html file with the desired content:
echo "hi" > index.html
Create an empty .static file. This tells Dokku that the repository contains a static site. Dokku then uses the Nginx builder to serve it.
touch .static
Commit the changes to git:
git add .
git commit -m "initial commit"
Create an app on the Dokku host and git push to deploy the app#
Use these commands to create, configure, and deploy the site:
export DOKKU_HOST=<your dokku server>
export APP_DOMAIN=<your app domain>
export APP_NAME=<your app name>
ssh dokku@$DOKKU_HOST apps:create $APP_NAME
git remote add dokku dokku@$DOKKU_HOST:$APP_NAME
git push dokku main
ssh dokku@$DOKKU_HOST domains:add $APP_NAME $APP_DOMAIN
ssh dokku@$DOKKU_HOST letsencrypt:enable $APP_NAME
That’s it. The site is now live at your app domain.
Deploy updates#
Updates can be deployed by checking them into git and running this command:
git push dokku main
Serving from sub directory#
Serving files from a subdirectory (eg. public) is possible by setting the NGINX_ROOT environment variable of the app on the Dokku host:
ssh dokku@$DOKKU_HOST config:set $APP_NAME NGINX_ROOT=/app/www/public
Building the site during deployment#
If you want to build the site during deployment, you can use multiple buildpacks, for example by adding a .buildpacks file to the root directory of the repository.
This way, you can use the first buildpack for building and the second fro serving.
Another, even more flexible option is to use Dockerfile deployments with multi-stage builds.