4. Deploy the Application Code

Upload the Pixel AI backend folder or clone it directly from your repository:

git clone  
cd pixel-ai-backend
npm install --production

After installation, create a .env file and add all required backend configuration values.

How to Run Seeding

To seed all data to the database, navigate to your backend directory and run the following command:

npm run seed

5. Process Management

To keep Pixel AI running continuously and auto-restart on errors, use PM2:

sudo npm install -g pm2
pm2 start server.js --name pixelai-backend
pm2 save
pm2 startup

PM2 ensures uptime, handles crashes, and provides clean logging tools.

6. Reverse Proxy Setup (Nginx)

Pixel AI runs on an internal port (e.g., 3001), so you need Nginx to route traffic from your domain.

Create an Nginx config file:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/pixel-ai

Add the following configuration:

server {
    listen 80;   
    server_name your-domain.com;   
    location / { 
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3001;     
        proxy_http_version 1.1;     
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;     
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';     
        proxy_set_header Host $host;     
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;   
    } 
}

Enable and restart Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/pixel-ai /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Your Pixel AI backend will now be available through your domain.

7. Enable SSL (HTTPS)

Secure your API with a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Set up auto-renewal:

0 12 * * * /usr/bin/certbot renew --quiet

8. Setup Cron Job

Cron jobs are used to schedule automatic tasks on your server such as database maintenance, SSL renewal, queue processing, and more.

Type : 1 Internal Cron Jobs (node-cron)

Pixel AI includes internal cron jobs managed via the node-cron library. These tasks are handled directly within the Node.js process and include:

• Automatic message status updates
• System logs cleanup
• Periodic database synchronization
• Subscription status updates (Status Cron)
• Trial expiry and user cleanup (Trial Cron)

Requirement: These run automatically as long as the PM2 process is active. No manual crontab entry is needed for these internal tasks.

Cron Schedule Format:

* * * * *  
| | | | |  
| | | | └───── Day of week (0 - 7) (Sunday is both 0 and 7)  
| | | └─────── Month (1 - 12)  
| | └───────── Day of month (1 - 31)  
| └─────────── Hour (0 - 23)  
└───────────── Minute (0 - 59)

Example:
0 0 * * * → Runs daily at 12:00 AM
0 1 * * * → Runs daily at 1:00 AM

pm2 restart all