/nextjs-deployment

name: nextjs-deployment
description: Provides comprehensive patterns for deploying Next.js applications to production. Use when configuring Docker containers, setting up GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines, managing environment variables, implementing preview deployments, or setting up monitoring and logging for Next.js applications. Covers standalone output, multi-stage Docker builds, health checks, OpenTelemetry instrumentation, and production best practices.
allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash

Next.js Deployment

Deploy Next.js applications to production with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and comprehensive monitoring.

Overview

This skill provides patterns and code examples for deploying Next.js applications to production environments. It covers containerization with Docker, CI/CD automation with GitHub Actions, environment configuration, health checks, and production monitoring. Use standalone output mode for container deployments, multi-stage Docker builds for optimized images, and OpenTelemetry for observability.

When to Use

Activate when user requests involve:

• "Deploy Next.js", "Dockerize Next.js", "containerize"
• "GitHub Actions", "CI/CD pipeline", "automated deployment"
• "Environment variables", "runtime config", "NEXT_PUBLIC"
• "Preview deployment", "staging environment"
• "Monitoring", "OpenTelemetry", "tracing", "logging"
• "Health checks", "readiness", "liveness"
• "Production build", "standalone output"
• "Server Actions encryption key", "NEXT_SERVER_ACTIONS_ENCRYPTION_KEY"

Quick Reference

Output Modes

| Mode | Use Case | Command | |------|----------|---------| | `standalone` | Docker/container deployment | `output: 'standalone'` | | `export` | Static site (no server) | `output: 'export'` | | (default) | Node.js server deployment | `next start` |

Environment Variable Types

| Prefix | Availability | Use Case | |--------|--------------|----------| | `NEXT_PUBLIC_` | Build-time + Browser | Public API keys, feature flags | | (no prefix) | Server-only | Database URLs, secrets | | Runtime | Server-only | Different values per environment |

Key Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | `Dockerfile` | Multi-stage container build | | `.github/workflows/deploy.yml` | CI/CD pipeline | | `next.config.ts` | Build configuration | | `instrumentation.ts` | OpenTelemetry setup | | `src/app/api/health/route.ts` | Health check endpoint |

Instructions

1. Configure Standalone Output

// next.config.ts
import type { NextConfig } from 'next'

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
  output: 'standalone',
  poweredByHeader: false,
  generateBuildId: async () => process.env.GIT_HASH || 'build',
}

export default nextConfig

2. Create Dockerfile

See [references/docker-patterns.md](references/docker-patterns.md) for complete multi-stage builds, multi-arch support, and optimization.

# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
FROM node:20-alpine AS base

FROM base AS deps
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json package-lock.json* ./
RUN npm ci

FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 NODE_ENV=production
ARG GIT_HASH NEXT_SERVER_ACTIONS_ENCRYPTION_KEY
ENV GIT_HASH=${GIT_HASH} NEXT_SERVER_ACTIONS_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${NEXT_SERVER_ACTIONS_ENCRYPTION_KEY}
RUN npm run build

FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app
ENV NODE_ENV=production NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 PORT=3000 HOSTNAME="0.0.0.0"
RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs && adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/standalone ./
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/static ./.next/static
COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/public ./public
USER nextjs
EXPOSE 3000
HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
  CMD node -e "require('http').get('http://localhost:3000/api/health', (r) => r.statusCode === 200 ? process.exit(0) : process.exit(1))"
CMD ["node", "server.js"]

3. Set Up GitHub Actions

See [references/github-actions.md](references/github-actions.md) for complete workflows with testing, security scanning, and deployment strategies.

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Build and Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]

env:
  REGISTRY: ghcr.io
  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
      packages: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
      - uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          registry: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}
          username: ${{ github.actor }}
          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      - id: meta
        uses: docker/metadata-action@v5
        with:
          images: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}
      - id: generate-key
        run: echo "key=$(openssl rand -base64 32)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
      - uses: docker/build-push-action@v5
        with:
          context: .
          push: true
          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
          cache-from: type=gha
          cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
          build-args: |
            GIT_HASH=${{ github.sha }}
            NEXT_SERVER_ACTIONS_ENCRYPTION_KEY=${{ steps.generate-key.outputs.key }}

4. Configure Environment Variables

// src/lib/env.ts
export function getEnv() {
  return {
    databaseUrl: process.env.DATABASE_URL!,
    apiKey: process.env.API_KEY!,
    publicApiUrl: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL!,
  }
}

export function validateEnv() {
  const required = ['DATABASE_URL', 'API_KEY', 'NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL']
  const missing = required.filter((key) => !process.env[key])
  if (missing.length > 0) {
    throw new Error(`Missing required environment variables: ${missing.join(', ')}`)
  }
}

5. Implement Health Checks

// src/app/api/health/route.ts
import { NextResponse } from '