Strapi is a popular JS headless CMS that works perfectly as an API for your VueJS / NuxtJS front-end apps.
It’s easy to install Strapi on your VPS using Cleaver in just a couple of steps.
Step 1 - create project on your local
On your local machine, install Strapi via terminal by running the
yarn create strapi-app my-project command.
Replace “my-project” with the name you want to assign your project.
Select Custom when prompted so you can setup your database of choice.
Note: If you select quickstart, this will install SQLite. You can also use MySQL or PostgreSQL and the best way to do that is to go through the setup wizard to select your db type and then add the db name, username, and password. You’ll need to have the db setup on your machine prior to going through the database steps.
Once installation is complete, run yarn develop to run on your local machine - just to make sure it runs correctly before deploying to your server.
Step 2 - update db connections and push to Git repo
If you plan to use a different database name, username, and password, on your production server, then update the connection settings in /config/database.js.
Push your project to your Git repo. Cleaver integrates with GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.
I added my Strapi project to my GitHub repo at https://github.com/armgitaar/mystrapi. Cleaver lets you pull from any public GitHub repro, so feel free to use mine. Just take note of how I setup my database connection by referring to the screenshot above.
Step 3 - add server and site in Cleaver
Provision a new server in Cleaver.
Note: when we deploy Strapi, it will take quite a bit of processing power to build prod assets. If you select the cheapest options from the VPS providers, then you will likely not want to host other sites on that server. If you get to the build step and it fails, it’s likely due to not enough memory on the server.
Once server has completed provisioning, click Add site. Select Node JS, add in your domain or select to use a Cleaver test domain.
Step 4 - set up your database
In the server section, select Databases. Then select which database you’d like to install (MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL).
In my project, I selected MySQL. So, I’ll install MySQL 8 to install. Once installed, I’ll create a database named strapi, a username admin, and password password.
Step 5 - set up web app and deploy!
Once your server, site, and database is ready, then head over to the Web App section in Cleaver. Cleaver will have automatically create a base web app and we’ll just fill in a couple pieces of information.
Make the following updates on the web app settings page -
- Select VC provider
- Add repo; ex: armgitaar/mystrapi
- Add branch; ex: master
- Set entry point to
npm - Set arguments to
start - Click Update
Then, click into the Web app, go to Deployment Hooks, select Build Assets and enable hook.
We’re now ready to go to the deploy page and Deploy! 
Voila!
As easy as that is - we could make it even easier with a 1-Click install. Let us know if that is something you want by liking this and/or commenting below!