Self-hosting

ContentAI is a standard Next.js 16 app, so anything that can run Node.js can host it.

Option A — Docker (recommended)

Dockerfile

Create Dockerfile at the project root:

FROM node:20-alpine AS base
WORKDIR /app

FROM base AS deps
COPY package.json pnpm-lock.yaml ./
RUN corepack enable pnpm && pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

FROM base AS builder
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
RUN corepack enable pnpm && pnpm build

FROM base AS runner
ENV NODE_ENV=production
COPY --from=builder /app/public ./public
COPY --from=builder /app/.next/standalone ./
COPY --from=builder /app/.next/static ./.next/static

EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]

Enable standalone output in next.config.ts:

const nextConfig = {
  output: "standalone", 
};

Build and run

docker build -t contentai .
docker run -d -p 3000:3000 --restart unless-stopped --name contentai contentai

Docker Compose

services:
  contentai:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production

Option B — PM2 on a VPS

# On the server
git clone <your-repo> /srv/contentai
cd /srv/contentai
pnpm install
pnpm build

pnpm add -g pm2
pm2 start pnpm --name contentai -- start
pm2 save
pm2 startup   # follow printed instructions

Reverse proxy with Nginx

server {
  listen 80;
  server_name contentai.example.com;

  location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
    proxy_http_version 1.1;
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  }
}

Enable HTTPS with Certbot:

sudo certbot --nginx -d contentai.example.com

Option C — Cloudflare Pages / Workers

Cloudflare Pages supports Next.js via the @cloudflare/next-on-pages adapter. Note: some AI SDK features rely on Node.js APIs that may require an edge-compatible patch. Vercel or Netlify is friction-free in comparison.

Option D — Railway / Render / Fly.io

All three host Next.js out of the box. Railway is closest to "click-and-deploy"; Fly.io offers global regions.

Sizing

ContentAI is very lightweight at runtime — the AI inference happens on the provider's servers. A 1 vCPU / 1 GB VPS handles the app comfortably for 100s of concurrent users.

Next: Authentication & database (NextAuth + Supabase) → · Add Supabase (alternate recipes) →

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