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Put API Maker on a server

When your APIs are ready, they need a server that is always on. Launchpad installs API Maker on your server for you, from your computer, over SSH. You rent a server anywhere, and Launchpad does the rest : API Maker, its MongoDB and Redis, a reverse proxy with HTTPS, and the firewall.

In short

  1. Rent an Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 server, from any provider.
  2. In Launchpad, switch to Cloud, and add the server.
  3. Make a project, choose the layout All in one, add your license key, and press Deploy.
Launchpad: Deploy API Maker to Your Own Servers over SSH10 chapters and the transcript

What you need
A server Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, x86-64 or ARM64. To start : 1 CPU core, 1 GB of memory, 20 GB of disk. Any provider works : Hetzner, DigitalOcean, AWS, Linode…
Its login root, or a user with sudo : a password, a private key, or your SSH agent.
A license key One for each API Maker server. Write to [email protected].
A domain (optional) For HTTPS. Point it at the address of the server first.

Nothing is installed on your computer for this, and there is no agent and no third-party service : Launchpad talks to your server over SSH.

Ubuntu 26.04 : update the kernel

The first kernels of Ubuntu 26.04 (Linux 7.0, before 7.0.0-31 of September 2026) make MongoDB 8 stop at start (SERVER-121912). Launchpad still runs it there, in a slower mode, and says so when it checks the server. Update the kernel and restart the server : apt update && apt full-upgrade -y, then reboot. MongoDB takes its faster mode back by itself.

1. Switch Launchpad to Cloud

Press Cloud at the top right of Launchpad. The sidebar now lists your projects, your servers and what Launchpad did on them.

Launchpad in Cloud mode : the Local and Cloud switch, the sidebar and a project with its environment
  1. Cloud : Launchpad now works on your servers.
  2. Your projects, servers and operations.
  3. An environment : one API Maker with its servers.

2. Add your server

Open Servers and press Add a server. Paste the email your provider sent : Launchpad fills in the form.

Add a server : paste the email of your provider, and the form fills itself in
  1. Paste the email your provider sent.
  2. The name, address and user are filled in for you.
  3. Test the connection, then Save.

Press Test the connection. Launchpad checks the server : its system, its memory, its disk. The first time, it shows the fingerprint of the server's key : accept it, so a fake server is refused later. Press Save the server.

The password or key is kept encrypted on your computer, its key in the keychain of your system.

3. Make a project and choose a layout

On Overview, press New project and name it. A project holds environments : production, staging… Each environment is one API Maker, with its own servers. Press Choose a layout :

Choose a layout : All in one, App and data, Dedicated databases, Load balanced
  1. All in one : one server runs everything. Start here.
  2. Bigger layouts, for later.
  3. Use this layout.

Pick All in one : one server runs everything. It is cheap, simple, and enough to start. Press Use this layout. The layout plans a server named main : connect it to your server from the Servers tab of the environment.

4. Add the license key and deploy

Open the Settings tab of the environment. Check the version of API Maker, and paste the license key of the server. Then press Review & deploy.

Review and deploy : what will be installed on every server, then Deploy
  1. What will be installed, server by server.
  2. Deploy.

The review lists what will be installed, server by server. Nothing changes before you press Deploy. For production, Launchpad asks you to type its name first.

The deployment, done : its stages and the output of every server
  1. Deployed : API Maker runs on your server.

The deployment shows each stage and the output of the server, live. It takes a few minutes. At the end, it shows the addresses of the admin panel and of the API.

5. Open the admin panel

Open the address of the admin panel, and sign in as on your computer. Then, before anyone else uses it, go through Before you go live : new passwords, HTTPS, and your own API users.

To bring your work from your computer : your schemas, APIs and code travel with Git. Secrets never travel : fill the default secret of the server on the server.

HTTPS and addresses

Apps reach API Maker through the reverse proxy of the server : Caddy by default, or Ferron, Pingap, or the web server built into API Maker (API Maker 4.3.0 or newer).

  • Without a domain, it answers on the address of the server : the admin panel on port 80, the API on 8080, the WebSockets on 8081. Plain HTTP : fine to try, not for real users.
  • With your domains, it answers over HTTPS. Its certificates come from Let's Encrypt and renew by themselves. Set the domains in the panel of the reverse proxy, then deploy.

The firewall lets the web reach the reverse proxy only. SSH always stays open.

What Launchpad sets up

One server set up by API Maker Launchpad : the reverse proxy → systemd (API Maker : APIs, WebSockets, admin panel) → Docker (MongoDB, Redis, sandboxes) → your databases Internet apps · users Your Ubuntu server 1 vCPU · 1 GB RAM is enough to start Reverse proxy :80 · :443 (SSL) Caddy, Ferron or Pingap automatic HTTPS systemd · one program API Maker :38246 APIs · WebSockets every core of the server api_maker_be.service Admin panel :4626 · served by API Maker Docker MongoDB API Maker's own data · :38248 Redis cache · counters · :7479 Sandboxes your custom code runs here one per account and language Files /root/config : .env, the proxy, a compose file per service /root/projects/sava_api_maker · /root/logs · /root/docker-data Your databases MongoDB · MySQL · MariaDB PostgreSQL · SQL Server Oracle · TiDB · Percona on this server, or anywhere reached through the connection strings of your secret
  • API Maker : one program, run by systemd as the service api_maker_be. systemd starts it at boot, and again if it stops.
  • MongoDB and Redis of API Maker, in Docker : its own data, not yours.
  • The reverse proxy, in Docker, and the sandboxes of your code.
  • Your databases, if you add some to the environment : MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, TiDB, with their replicas.

Every day

  • Health checks every server : disk, memory, services, certificates.
  • Logs, terminals and files of every server, without SSH by hand.
  • Operations lists everything Launchpad did, with its output.
Launchpad Day Two: Upgrades, Health, Logs and Moving Data Between Servers11 chapters and the transcript

Upgrade and roll back

Open the Versions tab of the environment, pick another version of API Maker, newer or older, then Review changes and deploy. The new version is installed next to the one that runs, then API Maker switches to it. With several servers, they switch one after the other.

You can also upgrade from the admin panel : Deploy API Maker.

Bigger setups

Start on one server, and grow without changing your APIs. Each layout of Launchpad matches one of the reference architectures of the website :

Layout of Launchpad What it is
All in one API Maker, its MongoDB and Redis, and your database on one server. Details
App + data API Maker on one server, the databases on another. Details
Dedicated databases API Maker, its own data, and your databases each on servers of their own. Details
Load balanced Several API Maker servers behind a gateway. Add servers at any time. Details
One environment per stage DEV, QA, UAT and PROD, each with its own servers and data. Details

On the diagram of an environment, drag a part to another server, or Shift-click servers to cluster a database over them. The video below shows it.

On video

Design Clusters on a Canvas: Replica Sets, Galera, Gateways and HTTPS13 chapters and the transcript

The files on the server

Where everything is
Path What it is
/root/projects/sava_api_maker API Maker : its program, its uploads, license.txt.
/root/config .env (its configuration), one Docker Compose file per service, the reverse proxy, the settings of each database.
/root/docker-data The data of every container, the certificates too.
/root/logs The logs of API Maker (api_maker_be.txt), of the reverse proxy and of every operation.
/etc/systemd/system/api_maker_be.service The service of API Maker.

API Maker listens on port 38246 (its APIs and WebSockets), its MongoDB on 38248, its Redis on 7479.

Moving a server of API Maker v3 ?

Launchpad moves it to v4 in place, and rolls back on failure : see Upgrade from v3.

You finished the learning path Learn more : every API of API Maker The APIs of your tables, custom APIs, hooks, events and schedulers, on one page.