It’s a step-by-step Ship deployment guide. We will use Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Mongo Atlas, Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR), GitHub Actions for automated deployment, and CloudFlare for DNS and SSL configuration.

You need to create GitHub, AWS, MongoDB Atlas and CloudFlare accounts and install the next tools on your machine before starting:

kubectl - CLI tool for accessing Kubernetes cluster;
kubectx - CLI tool for easier switching between Kubernetes contexts;
helm - CLI tool for managing Kubernetes deployments;
aws-cli - CLI tool for managing AWS resources;
eksctl - CLI tool for managing EKS clusters;
k8sec - CLI tool for managing Kubernetes Secrets easily;

Try the next commands to ensure that everything is installed correctly:

kubectl

kubectx

helm

aws sts get-caller-identity

eksctl

k8sec

Also, you need git and Node.js if you already haven’t.

Setup project

First, initialize your project. Type npx create-ship-app@latest in the terminal then choose AWS EKS deployment type.

You will have the next project structure.

/my-ship-app
  /.github
  /apps
    /api
    /web
  /deploy
  ...

AWS Regions

AWS Regions are physical locations of AWS cluster data centers. Each group of logical data centers calls Availability Zone (AZ). AZs allow the operation of production applications and databases that are more highly available, fault-tolerant and scalable.

Now you need to select an AWS region for future use of the services. You can read more about region selection for your workloads here: What to Consider when Selecting a Region for your Workloads.

For this deployment guide, we will use the us-east-1 region.

Usually, you have to create AWS resources in a single region. If you don’t see created resources, you may need to switch to the appropriate AWS region.

Container registry

You need to create private repositories for storing Docker images. The deployment script will upload images to Container Registry during the build step, and Kubernetes will automatically pull these images from Container Registry to run a new version of the service during the deployment step.

Now we should create a repository for each service.

For Ship, we need to create repositories for the next services:

API - api
Migrator - migrator
Scheduler - scheduler
Web - web

You should create a private repository for each service manually.

After creation, you should have the following 4 services in ECR

Docker images for each service are stored in a separate repository. During the deployment process script will automatically create paths to repositories in the next format:

API - 276472736030.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/api;
Migrator - 276472736030.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/migrator;
Scheduler - 276472736030.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/scheduler;
Web - 276472736030.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/web;

Repository name276472736030.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/api consists of 5 values:

276472736030 - AWS account ID;
us-east-1 - AWS region.
dkr.ecr - AWS service.
amazonaws.com - AWS domain.
api - service name.

Images for all environments will be uploaded to the same repository for each service.

Kubernetes Cluster

Now let’s create EKS cluster.

Select Custom Configuration

Navigate to the cluster creation page and choose Custom configuration
Make sure to disable EKS Auto Mode

Name Your Cluster

Enter a name for your cluster. It’s recommended to use your project name.

For multi-environment setups, append the environment name to your cluster:

my-ship-app-staging
my-ship-app-production

Configure Cluster IAM Role

For the Cluster IAM role:

Click the Create recommended role button
AWS will automatically create IAM roles with necessary EKS cluster permissions
Return to cluster creation page and select the created policy

Set Authentication Mode

In the Cluster access section:

Set Cluster authentication mode to EKS API and ConfigMap

Configure Add-ons

Navigate to ‘Select add-ons’ and verify these required add-ons are selected:

CoreDNS
kube-proxy
Amazon VPC CNI
Node monitoring agent

Review and Create

Move to the review section and verify all configuration parameters are correct before creating the cluster.

Default values for other configuration parameters are suitable unless you have specific requirements.

After creation, you need to wait a few minutes until the cluster status becomes Active.

After cluster creation, you should attach EC2 instances to the cluster. You can do it by clicking on the Add Node Group button on the Compute tab.

Set the node group name as pool-app and select the relevant Node IAM role from the list.

If you don’t have any IAM roles here, click the Create recommended role button. You will be prompted to create properly configured IAM roles with all necessary permissions.

AWS recommends creating at least 2 nodes t3.medium instance type for the production environment.

Default values for other configuration parameters are suitable unless you have specific requirements.

Accessing a cluster from a local machine

Before proceeding, ensure you have configured the AWS CLI.

Update kubeconfig

Run the following command to configure cluster access:

aws eks update-kubeconfig \
  --region us-east-1 \
  --name my-ship-app \
  --alias my-ship-app

Replace us-east-1 with your cluster’s region and my-ship-app with your cluster name.

Switch to cluster context

Execute kubectx in your terminal and select your cluster from the list.

kubectx

Verify cluster access

Check the installed pods by running:

kubectl get pods -A

You should see a list of system pods in your cluster:

Ingress NGINX Controller

ingress-nginx is an Ingress controller for Kubernetes using NGINX as a reverse proxy and load balancer.

Learn more about ingress-nginx functionality in the official documentation.

Navigate to dependencies directory

Change to the deploy/dependencies directory in your terminal.

Configure Helm Values (Optional)

This step is required only if you specified a custom node group name in your EKS cluster.

If you did, update the eks.amazonaws.com/nodegroup value in values.yaml.gotmpl:

deploy/dependencies/ingress-nginx/values.yaml.gotmpl

controller:
  publishService:
    enabled: true
  nodeSelector:
    eks.amazonaws.com/nodegroup: pool-app

rbac:
  create: true

defaultBackend:
  enabled: false

Install dependencies

Install helm dependencies using helmfile:

helmfile deps

Review and apply changes

Preview the changes first:

helmfile diff

If the preview looks correct, apply the configuration:

helmfile apply

DNS and SSL

Get Load Balancer Address

After deploying ingress-nginx, retrieve the Load Balancer’s external hostname:

kubectl get svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx -o json | jq -r '.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname'

If you have trouble running the above command, you can alternatively use:

kubectl get svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx

And copy the value from the EXTERNAL-IP column.

Domain Naming Convention

You can follow this recommended naming pattern for different environments:

Environment	API Domain	Web Domain
Production	api.ship.com	app.ship.com
Staging	api.staging.ship.com	app.staging.ship.com

Configure DNS in Cloudflare

First, ensure you have a domain in Cloudflare. You can either:

In the Cloudflare DNS tab, create 2 CNAME records:

One for Web interface
One for API endpoint

Both should point to your Load Balancer’s external hostname.

Enable the Proxied option to:

Route traffic through Cloudflare
Generate SSL certificates automatically

Cloudflare’s free Universal SSL certificates only cover the apex domain and one subdomain level. For multiple subdomain levels, you’ll need an Advanced Certificate.

Update Configuration Files

Update your domain settings in the appropriate environment configuration files:

For API service:

service: api
port: 3001
domain: api.my-ship-app.paralect.com

For Web service:

service: web
port: 3002
domain: my-ship-app.paralect.com

MongoDB Atlas

MongoDB Atlas is a fully managed cloud database service that provides automated backups, scaling, and security features. It offers 99.995% availability with global deployment options and seamless integration with AWS infrastructure.

Cluster Creation

Access MongoDB Atlas

Deploy New Cluster

Click Create to start cluster deployment.

Cluster Tier Selection:

Staging: M0 (Free tier) - Suitable for development and testing
Production: M10 or higher - Includes automated backups and advanced features

Provider & Region:

Select AWS as your cloud provider
Choose the same region as your EKS cluster for optimal performance

Configure Cluster Name

Enter a descriptive cluster name (e.g., ship-production-cluster, ship-staging-cluster)

Security Configuration

Create Database User

Navigate to Database Access → Add New Database User

Authentication Method: Password
Username: Use environment-specific names (e.g., api-production, api-staging)
Password: Generate a strong password
Database User Privileges: Read and write to any database

Password Requirements: Ensure the password starts with a letter and contains only alphanumeric characters and common symbols. Special characters at the beginning can cause URI parsing issues.

Configure Network Access

Navigate to Network Access → Add IP Address

Click Allow access from anywhere to allow connections from any IP with valid credentials
For production, consider restricting to specific IP ranges for enhanced security

Get Connection String

Access Connection Details

Go to your cluster dashboard and click the Connect button.

Copy Connection String

Select Drivers in the “Connect your application” section
Choose Node.js driver and latest version
Copy the connection string and replace <db_password> with your actual password

Example Connection String:

mongodb+srv://api-production:[email protected]/?retryWrites=true&w=majority

Save Connection Details

Store the connection string securely - you’ll need it for environment configuration later

Before deploying to production, configure automated backups in the Atlas console to ensure data recovery capabilities.

Environment variables

Kubernetes applications require proper environment variable configuration for both API and Web components. This section covers how to set up and manage environment variables securely using Kubernetes secrets and configuration files.

API Environment Variables

For the API deployment, you need to set up environment variables using Kubernetes secrets to securely manage sensitive configuration data.

Secrets in Kubernetes are used to store sensitive information, such as passwords, API tokens, and keys. They are encoded in Base64 format to provide a level of security. These can be mounted into containers as data volumes or used as environment variables.

Before deploying the app, make sure all necessary variables from the API config are exist. Here are the minimal set of required variables:

Name	Description	Example value
`APP_ENV`	Application environment	`production`
`MONGO_URI`	Database connection string	`mongodb://<username>:<password>@ship.mongodb.net`
`MONGO_DB_NAME`	Database name	`api-production`
`API_URL`	API domain URL	`https://api.my-ship-app.paralect.com`
`WEB_URL`	Web app domain URL	`https://my-ship-app.paralect.com`
`JWT_SECRET`	JWT signing key	`Vz2Ol8HKBO0/38i1IBm2uJ7JnVabWGm0RiRVY5w1sNY=`

Environment Variable Details

APP_ENV

MONGO_URI

MONGO_DB_NAME

API_URL

WEB_URL

JWT_SECRET

Setting up Kubernetes Secrets

Create namespaces and secret objects

Create Kubernetes namespaces and secret objects for staging and production environments:

kubectl create namespace staging
kubectl create secret generic api-staging-secret -n staging
kubectl create namespace production
kubectl create secret generic api-production-secret -n production

Initialize secret storage

First, create an APP_ENV variable to initialize secret storage for k8sec:

k8sec set api-production-secret APP_ENV=production -n production

Verify secret creation

Run the following command to check the created secret:

k8sec list api-production-secret -n production

Prepare environment file

Create a .env.production file with all required variables:

APP_ENV=production
MONGO_URI=mongodb://username:[email protected]
MONGO_DB_NAME=api-production
API_URL=https://api.my-ship-app.paralect.com
WEB_URL=https://my-ship-app.paralect.com
JWT_SECRET=Vz2Ol8HKBO0/38i1IBm2uJ7JnVabWGm0RiRVY5w1sNY=

Replace all example values with your actual configuration. Never use production secrets in documentation or version control.

Import secrets to Kubernetes

Import secrets from the .env file to Kubernetes secret using k8sec:

k8sec load -f .env.production api-production-secret -n production

After updating environment variables, you must initiate a new deployment for changes to take effect. Kubernetes pods cache variable values during startup, requiring a pod restart or rolling update to apply changes.

Web Environment Variables

The web application uses Next.js environment variables that are embedded at build time and made available in the browser. Unlike API secrets, these variables are stored directly in the GitHub repository.

Why Web Environment Variables Are Safe in Git: Web environment variables (prefixed with NEXT_PUBLIC_) contain only public configuration like URLs and API endpoints. They don’t include sensitive data like passwords or API keys, making them safe to store in version control. These values are already exposed to users in the browser, so repository storage doesn’t create additional security risks.

Security Notice: Never store sensitive information (passwords, API keys, secrets) in web environment files as they will be accessible on the client side. Only use public configuration values that are safe to expose to end users.

Configuration Files

Web environment variables are stored in separate files for each deployment environment:

NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.my-ship-app.paralect.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_WS_URL=https://api.my-ship-app.paralect.com
NEXT_PUBLIC_WEB_URL=https://my-ship-app.paralect.com

Environment Variables Reference

Variable	Description	Example
`NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL`	Base URL for API requests	`https://api.my-ship-app.paralect.com`
`NEXT_PUBLIC_WS_URL`	WebSocket server URL for real-time	`https://api.my-ship-app.paralect.com`
`NEXT_PUBLIC_WEB_URL`	App’s own URL for redirects/metadata	`https://my-ship-app.paralect.com`

Best Practice: Keep web environment files in your repository and ensure all values are non-sensitive. If you need to reference sensitive data from the frontend, create a secure API endpoint that returns the necessary information after proper authentication.

Setting up GitHub Actions CI/CD

Creating IAM user in AWS

To set up CI/CD with GitHub Actions securely, we need to create a dedicated IAM user in AWS with specific permissions.

This separate user will be used exclusively for CI/CD operations, following the principle of least privilege and keeping deployment credentials isolated from other system users.

Create IAM Policy

Go to AWS IAM Policies
Click Create policy
Select JSON tab and add the policy:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "ECR",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
            "ecr:BatchGetImage",
            "ecr:CompleteLayerUpload",
            "ecr:GetAuthorizationToken",
            "ecr:UploadLayerPart",
            "ecr:InitiateLayerUpload",
            "ecr:BatchCheckLayerAvailability",
            "ecr:PutImage"
          ],
           "Resource": "*"
        },
        {
            "Sid": "EKS",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": "eks:DescribeCluster",
            "Resource": "*"
        }
    ]
}

(Optional) Add tags
Give the policy a name (e.g. GitHubActionsDeployPolicy) and create it

Create IAM User

Navigate to Users in IAM console
Click Create user
Give the user a name (e.g. github-actions)

Attach the policy you created by selecting:

Attach existing policies directly
Choose the CI/CD policy created in previous step

(Optional) Add user tags
Review and create user

Generate Access Keys

Find your new user in the users list and open user’s page
Click Create access key

Select use case: Third-party service

Save the Access Key ID and Secret Access Key securely

The Secret Access Key will only be shown once - make sure to save it immediately!

Configure EKS Access

Copy your user’s ARN from the IAM dashboard

Run the following command to grant Kubernetes access:

eksctl create iamidentitymapping \
--cluster my-ship-app \
--group system:masters \
--username github-actions \
--arn YOUR_USER_ARN

Replace YOUR_USER_ARN with the actual ARN copied earlier.

These permissions enable CI/CD workflows while following security best practices:

Minimal required permissions for ECR operations
Limited EKS access for cluster management
Dedicated CI/CD user separate from other IAM users

Configuring GitHub Actions secrets and variables

Before starting, make sure you have created a GitHub repository for your project.

GitHub Secrets and variables allow you to manage reusable configuration data.

Secrets are encrypted and are used for sensitive data. Learn more about encrypted secrets.

Variables are shown as plain text and are used for non-sensitive data. Learn more about variables.

The deployment will be triggered on each commit:

Commits to main branch → deploy to staging environment
Commits to production branch → deploy to production environment

Configure the following secrets and variables in your GitHub repository:

Name	Type	Description
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	secret	The secret access key from the AWS IAM user created for CI/CD. This allows GitHub Actions to authenticate with AWS services
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	variable	The access key ID from the AWS IAM user. Used in conjunction with the secret key for AWS authentication
AWS_REGION	variable	The AWS region where your EKS cluster and ECR registry are located (e.g. `us-east-1`)
CLUSTER_NODE_GROUP	variable	The name of the EKS node group where your application pods will be scheduled (e.g. `pool-app`)
CLUSTER_NAME_PRODUCTION	variable	The name of your production EKS cluster. Required when deploying to the production environment
CLUSTER_NAME_STAGING	variable	The name of your staging EKS cluster. Required when deploying to the staging environment

Never commit sensitive credentials directly to your repository.
Always use GitHub Secrets for sensitive information like AWS keys.

Variables (unlike secrets) are visible in logs and can be used for non-sensitive configuration values that may need to be referenced or modified.

Now commit all changes to GitHub that will trigger deployment, or you can run a workflow manually

Done! Application deployed and can be accessed by the provided domain.

If something went wrong you can check the workflows logs on GitHub and use kubectl logs, kubectl describe commands.

Setting up Upstash Redis database (recommended)

Upstash Redis Integration

Upstash Redis is a highly available, infinitely scalable Redis-compatible database that provides enterprise-grade features without the operational complexity.

How Ship Uses Redis

Ship leverages Redis for several critical functionalities:

Use Case	Description	Implementation
Real-time Communication	Pub/Sub mechanism for WebSocket functionality	Socket.io Redis Adapter
Rate Limiting	API request throttling and abuse prevention	Redis counters with TTL
Caching	Application data caching for improved performance	Key-value storage with expiration

Redis as a Message Broker: When scaling to multiple server instances, Redis acts as a message broker between Socket.io servers, ensuring real-time messages reach all connected clients regardless of which server they’re connected to.

Setting Up Upstash Redis

Create Your Database

Access Upstash Console

Create New Database

Click Create Database in the upper right corner to open the configuration dialog.

Configure Database Settings

Database Name: Choose a descriptive name for your database (e.g., my-ship-app-production)

Primary Region: Select the region closest to your main application deployment for optimal write performance.

Read Regions: Choose additional regions where you expect high read traffic for better global performance.

Select Plan & Deploy

Choose your pricing plan based on expected usage and click Create to deploy your database.

Region Selection: For Kubernetes deployments on AWS, choose the same AWS region as your EKS cluster to minimize latency and data transfer costs.

Get Connection Details

Once your database is created, you’ll need the connection string for your application:

Navigate to Connection Info

Go to your database dashboard and find the Connect to your database section.

Copy Connection String

Select the Node tab for the appropriate connection string format
Click Reveal to show the hidden password
Copy the complete Redis URI (format: rediss://username:password@host:port)

Add to Environment Variables through k8sec

Using k8sec, add the Redis connection string to your environment configuration:

k8sec set api-production-secret -n production REDIS_URI=$REDIS_URI

After updating environment variables, restart your API pod using:

kubectl delete pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>

This will trigger Kubernetes to create a new pod with the updated environment variables.

Verify Connection with Redis Insight

Redis Insight is a powerful GUI tool for managing and debugging Redis databases.

Install Redis Insight

Download and install Redis Insight on your local machine.

Add Database Connection

Open Redis Insight
Click Add Database
Paste your Upstash Redis connection string in the Connection URL field
Click Add Database

Explore Your Database

Once connected, you can use Upstash Redis Console to:

Browse keys and data structures
Execute Redis commands directly
Monitor real-time performance metrics
Debug application data storage

Real-time Monitoring: Upstash Redis updates database metrics automatically every 10 seconds, giving you near real-time visibility into your Redis performance and usage.

Getting Started

Ship Components

AWS

Setup project

AWS Regions

Container registry

Kubernetes Cluster

Accessing a cluster from a local machine

Ingress NGINX Controller

DNS and SSL

MongoDB Atlas

Cluster Creation

Security Configuration

Get Connection String

Environment variables

API Environment Variables

Environment Variable Details

Setting up Kubernetes Secrets

Web Environment Variables

Configuration Files

Environment Variables Reference

Setting up GitHub Actions CI/CD

Creating IAM user in AWS

Configuring GitHub Actions secrets and variables

Setting up Upstash Redis database (recommended)

Upstash Redis Integration

How Ship Uses Redis

Setting Up Upstash Redis

Create Your Database

Get Connection Details

Verify Connection with Redis Insight

Getting Started

Ship Components

​Setup project

​AWS Regions

​Container registry

​Kubernetes Cluster

​Accessing a cluster from a local machine

​Ingress NGINX Controller

​DNS and SSL

​MongoDB Atlas

​Cluster Creation

​Security Configuration

​Get Connection String

​Environment variables

​API Environment Variables

​Environment Variable Details

​Setting up Kubernetes Secrets

​Web Environment Variables

​Configuration Files

​Environment Variables Reference

​Setting up GitHub Actions CI/CD

​Creating IAM user in AWS

​Configuring GitHub Actions secrets and variables

​Setting up Upstash Redis database (recommended)

​Upstash Redis Integration

​How Ship Uses Redis

​Setting Up Upstash Redis

​Create Your Database

​Get Connection Details

​Verify Connection with Redis Insight

Setup project

AWS Regions

Container registry

Kubernetes Cluster

Accessing a cluster from a local machine

Ingress NGINX Controller

DNS and SSL

MongoDB Atlas

Cluster Creation

Security Configuration

Get Connection String

Environment variables

API Environment Variables

Environment Variable Details

Setting up Kubernetes Secrets

Web Environment Variables

Configuration Files

Environment Variables Reference

Setting up GitHub Actions CI/CD

Creating IAM user in AWS

Configuring GitHub Actions secrets and variables

Setting up Upstash Redis database (recommended)

Upstash Redis Integration

How Ship Uses Redis

Setting Up Upstash Redis

Create Your Database

Get Connection Details

Verify Connection with Redis Insight