The headless Strapi stack, self-hosted

Deploy

Strapi on Edge in five steps

Standard Strapi 5 throughout. The Edge parts are one VM, one bucket and one CDN deployment.

~/acme-cms — zsh

$ edge compute create --name cms \

--size s-2vcpu-4gb --script nodejs \

--image ubuntu-24 --region london

$ npm i @strapi/provider-upload-aws-s3

$ NODE_ENV=production npm run build

✓ Admin panel built

$ pm2 start npm --name strapi -- run start

✓ strapi online · :1337

$ edge cdn domains add cdn-a1b2c3 \

--domain cms.acme.dev \

Egress to front end$0

cms.acme.devRunning

StrapiPM2 · Node 22

DatabasePostgres · same VM

1. 01

   Create the VM, bucket and database

   The nodejs script installs Node 22, PM2 and an Nginx reverse proxy. Add Postgres on the same box.

   shellCopy

   $ edge compute create --name cms --size s-2vcpu-4gb \
       --image ubuntu-24 --region london --script nodejs
   $ edge storage create acme-media
   
   $ edge compute ssh vm-4c8e21
   $ apt install -y postgresql
   $ sudo -u postgres createuser --pwprompt strapi
   $ sudo -u postgres createdb --owner strapi strapi

2. 02

   Send uploads to Edge Storage

   Install @strapi/provider-upload-aws-s3, then add media.acme.dev to img-src and media-src in config/middlewares.ts so the admin can preview uploads.

   config/plugins.tsCopy

   export default ({ env }) => ({
     upload: {
       config: {
         provider: 'aws-s3',
         providerOptions: {
           baseUrl: 'https://media.acme.dev',
           s3Options: {
             credentials: {
               accessKeyId: env('EDGE_KEY'),
               secretAccessKey: env('EDGE_SECRET'),
             },
             endpoint: 'https://storage.edge.network',
             region: 'us-east-1',
             forcePathStyle: true,
             params: { Bucket: 'acme-media' },
           },
         },
       },
     },
   });

3. 03

   Build and start Strapi

   Set DATABASE_CLIENT=postgres and the connection details in .env, then run it under PM2 and proxy Nginx to port 1337.

   shellCopy

   $ npm ci
   $ NODE_ENV=production npm run build
   $ NODE_ENV=production pm2 start npm --name strapi -- run start
   $ pm2 save

4. 04

   Cache the API and serve media

   Short TTLs keep content fresh. Purge the API path from a Strapi webhook after publishing if you want it instant.

   shellCopy

   $ edge cdn create --name acme-cms
   $ edge cdn domains add cdn-a1b2c3 --domain cms.acme.dev \
       --origin https://<vm-ip> --cache-ttl 60
   $ edge cdn domains add cdn-a1b2c3 \
       --domain media.acme.dev --jit-image \
       --origin-type storage --storage-bucket acme-media
   
   $ edge cdn purge cdn-a1b2c3 --path /api/*

5. 05

   Fetch from your front end

   Strapi 5 returns flat documents. Ask the CDN for the exact image size each layout needs.

   app/blog/page.tsxCopy

   const res = await fetch(
     'https://cms.acme.dev/api/posts?populate=cover',
     { next: { revalidate: 60 } },
   )
   const { data: posts } = await res.json()
   
   // <img src={`${post.cover.url}?width=1200&format=auto`} />

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