dockerised-node-auth-app

🚀 Node.js Secret Service Deployment with Docker & GitHub Actions (CI /CD)

This is a simple Node.js web service with two routes, Dockerized and deployed automatically to a remote server using GitHub Actions. It demonstrates how to use CI/CD pipelines to build, push, and deploy a Docker image.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

• Node.js and npm installed locally (for development)
• A Docker Hub account
• A remote Linux server (e.g., Ubuntu on AWS EC2)
• Docker and Docker Compose installed on the remote server
• A .env file both locally and on the remote server
• SSH access to the server with a private key
• A GitHub repository for your code
• GitHub secrets configured for: -DOCKERHUB_TOKEN DOCKER_USERNAME SSH_PRIVATE_KEY REMOTE_HOST REMOTE_USER

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Features

• GET / → Returns a simple "Hello, world!" message.
• GET /secret → Protected by Basic Auth. Returns a secret message if valid credentials are provided.
• Uses a .env file for:

USERNAME=admin
PASSWORD=pass1234
SECRET_MESSAGE=This is top secret!

• Dockerized with a multistage build setup.
• CI/CD via GitHub Actions to build, push, and deploy the image to a remote server.

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⚙️ Environment Setup

Create a .env file in the root of your project:

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🧪 Running Locally

1. Install Dependencies

npm install

2. Start the Server

node app.js

http://localhost:3000/ for Hello world. [you can edit as desired, depending on what port is available on your host]

http://localhost:3000/secret → Will prompt for username and password

Dockerization

Dockerfile

ARG NODE_VERSION=18.0.0

FROM node:${NODE_VERSION}-alpine

WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json first
COPY package*.json ./

# Install app dependencies
RUN npm install

# Copy the rest of the source files into the image.
COPY . .

# Expose the port that the application listens on.
EXPOSE 3000

# Start the application.
CMD ["node", "app.js"]

Build and Run with Docker

docker build -t node-secret-service .
docker run --env-file .env -p 3000:3000 node-secret-service

Once everything works well proceed to github actions

GitHub Actions (CI/CD)

🔐 Secrets Configuration In your GitHub repo, go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions and add:

Name Type Description DOCKERHUB_TOKEN Secret Docker Hub access token DOCKER_USERNAME Variable Your Docker Hub username SSH_PRIVATE_KEY Secret SSH key for your remote server REMOTE_HOST Variable IP or domain of the server REMOTE_USER Variable SSH username on the serve

GitHub Workflow File

On your repo create a folder: .github/workflows/deploy.yml

Then add the following file to deploy.yml

name: Deploy Nodejs app to docker hub then remote server

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  build-and-push:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Log in to Docker Hub
        uses: docker/login-action@v3
        with:
          username: ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}
          password: ${{ secrets.DOCKERHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Build and push Docker image
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v6
        with:
          push: true
          tags: ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/node-secret-service:latest

      - name: Execute remote SSH commands using password
        uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v1
        with:
          host: ${{ vars.HOST }}
          username: ${{ vars.REMOTE_USERNAME }}
          key: ${{ secrets.PRIVATE_KEY }}
          script: |
            echo "USERNAME=admin" >> /home/${{ vars.REMOTE_USERNAME }}/.env
            echo "PASSWORD=pass1234" >> /home/${{ vars.REMOTE_USERNAME }}/.env
            echo "SECRET_MESSAGE=This is top secret!" >> /home/${{ vars.REMOTE_USERNAME }}/.env
            docker pull ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/node-secret-service:latest
            docker stop node-secret-service || true
            docker rm node-secret-service || true
            docker run -d --name node-secret-service -p 80:3000 \
              --env-file /home/${{ vars.REMOTE_USERNAME }}/.env \
              ${{ vars.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/node-secret-service:latest

Workflow Triggers

The workflow is triggered on push to main:

on: push: branches: - main

It will:

Log in to Docker Hub

Build the Docker image

Push the image to Docker Hub

SSH into your server

Pull and run the new image

Deployment Verification

After a successful push to main, your app should be available on:

http://your-server-ip:3000

📚 References To be rewritten Docker

GitHub Actions

appleboy/ssh-action

Node.js + Basic Auth

dotenv

Author Made with ❤️ by @toluwanee