Every time you deploy something behind Nginx, you end up googling the same config. Here it is, once and for all.

The Config

Save as /etc/nginx/sites-available/myapp:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name yourdomain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name yourdomain.com;

    # SSL (managed by certbot or your own certs)
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/yourdomain.com/privkey.pem;
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
    add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;

    # Gzip
    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml text/javascript;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    # Proxy to your app
    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;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }

    # Static files (if served by Nginx)
    location /static/ {
        alias /var/www/myapp/static/;
        expires 30d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    }
}

What’s included

• HTTP → HTTPS redirect — all traffic forced to SSL
• HTTP/2 — faster page loads, multiplexed connections
• Security headers — XSS protection, clickjacking prevention, HSTS
• Gzip compression — smaller responses, faster loads
• WebSocket support — the Upgrade and Connection headers handle WS connections
• Proxy headers — your app sees the real client IP, not 127.0.0.1
• Static file caching — 30-day cache with immutable flag

Setup steps

# Enable the site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/myapp /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Test config
sudo nginx -t

# Reload
sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Get SSL cert (if you don't have one)
sudo certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

Common tweaks

Rate limiting:

# Add to http block in /etc/nginx/nginx.conf
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=api:10m rate=10r/s;

# Add to location block
limit_req zone=api burst=20 nodelay;

Increase upload size:

client_max_body_size 50M;

Multiple apps on different paths:

location /api/ {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:4000/;
}
location / {
    proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
}

Replace yourdomain.com with your domain, 3000 with your app’s port, and you’re live.

Related: Nginx Cheat Sheet · AI App Deployment Checklist