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Note

Before you start, check out the Upsun demo app and the main Getting started guide. They provide all of the core concepts and common commands you need to know before using the materials below.

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1. Create an Express app

To create your Express app, follow these steps.
  1. Follow the Express installation guide. To fast track the process, run the following commands:
    Terminal
    mkdir my-express-app && cd my-express-app
npx express-generator
  2. To initialize the local Git repository and commit local files, run the following commands:
    Terminal
    git init
echo "node_modules" >> .gitignore
git add .
git commit -m "Init Express application."
You can view your running app locally by installing dependencies (npm install) and running npm run dev. The local server is visible at localhost:3000.

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2. Create a new project

To create a project on Upsun, follow these steps.

Remember

After creating your Upsun project, copy your new project ID for later use.
To create a new project with the Upsun CLI, use the following command and follow the prompts:
Terminal
upsun project:create
When creating a new project using the Upsun CLI command project:create, you are asked if you want to set the local remote to your new project. Enter Yes (y).Your local source code is automatically linked to your newly created Upsun project through the creation of a .upsun/local/project.yaml. This file contains the corresponding <projectId> for the Upsun CLI to use, and sets a Git remote to upsun.

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3. Choose your Git workflow

You can use Upsun projects as a classic Git repository, where you are able to push your source code in different ways, using either the Git CLI or the Upsun CLI. You can choose which way —or Git workflow— you want to use for your project from the following options:
  • Your project source code is hosted on an Upsun Git repository
  • Your project source code is hosted on your own GitHub repository
For the rest of this guide, you will use the normal Git workflow (git add . && git commit -m "message" && git push upsun) to commit your source code changes to Git history. You will also use the Upsun CLI to deploy your Upsun environment with the latest code updates.

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4. Configure your project

To host your Express application on Upsun, you need to have a few YAML configuration files at the root of your project. These files manage your app’s behavior. They are located in a .upsun/ folder at the root of your source code and structured in a similar way to this: 
my-express-app
├── .upsun
│   └── config.yaml
├── [.environment]
└── <project sources>
To generate these files, run the following command at the root of your project: 
upsun project:init
Follow the prompts. To commit your new files, run the following commands:
Terminal
git add .
git commit -m "Add Upsun config files"

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5. Deploy

And just like that, it’s time to deploy! Depending on the Git workflow you chose at the beginning of this tutorial, there are two ways to deploy your source code changes.
You can push your code using the normal Git workflow (git add . && git commit -m "message" && git push). This pushes your source code changes to your upsun remote repository. Alternatively, you can use the following Upsun CLI command:
Terminal
upsun push
Upsun then reads your configuration files, and deploys your project using default container resources. If you don’t want to use those default resources, define your own resource initialization strategy, or amend those default container resources after your project is deployed. Et voilà, your Express application is live!

Tip

Each environment has its own domain name. To open the URL of your new environment, run the following command:
Terminal
upsun environment:url --primary

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6. Make changes to your project

Now that your project is deployed, you can start making changes to it. For example, you might want to fix a bug or add a new feature. In your project, the main branch always represents the production environment. Other branches are for developing new features, fixing bugs, or updating the infrastructure. To make changes to your project, follow these steps:
  1. Create a new environment (a Git branch) to make changes without impacting production:
    Terminal
    upsun branch feat-a
    This command creates a new local feat-a Git branch based on the main Git branch, and activates a related environment on Upsun. The new environment inherits the data (service data and assets) of its parent environment (the production environment here).
  2. Make changes to your project. For example, edit the views/index.jade file and make the following changes: 
    diff --git a/views/index.jade b/views/index.jade
index 3d63b9a..77aee43 100644
--- a/views/index.jade
+++ b/views/index.jade
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@ extends layout

 block content
   h1= title
-  p Welcome to #{title}
+  p Welcome to #{title} on Upsun
``
  3. Commit your changes:
    Terminal
    git add views/index.jade
git commit -m "Update index page view."
  4. Deploy your changes to the feat-a environment:
    Terminal
    upsun push
  5. Iterate by changing the code, committing, and deploying. When satisfied with your changes, merge them to the main branch, and remove the feature branch: 
    upsun merge
    Are you sure you want to merge feat-a into its parent, main? [Y/n] y
upsun checkout main
git pull upsun main
upsun environment:delete feat-a
git fetch --prune
    Note that deploying to production is fast because the image built for the feat-a environment is reused. For a long running branch, to keep the code up-to-date with the main branch, use git merge main or git rebase main. You can also keep the data in sync with the production environment by using upsun env:sync.

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Further resources

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Documentation

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Community content

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Blogs

Last modified on March 11, 2026