Own domain on a plain instance

When this is for you

You are running your own backend and frontend on a plain OS instance (Ubuntu/Debian). You want visitors to reach both under your own hostname, for examplehttps://shop.example.com for the storefront andhttps://shop.example.com/api (or a subdomain) for the backend.

Option 1 — one site, one origin port

The simplest setup is one web site whose origin port is the port your server listens on. Run a single process (or a tiny reverse proxy such as Caddy inside the instance) that serves both the frontend and the backend, routing by path.

• SSH into the instance and start your app so it listens on a port, e.g. 3000.
• In Networking → Sites, set the web site origin port to 3000.
• Attach your domain to the web site (see Custom domains).
• Point an A record at your node’s public IP.

Visitors reach everything at https://your-domain.com; the edge forwards to your instance on port 3000.

Option 2 — separate sites for frontend and backend

If you prefer separate processes (frontend on 3000, backend API on 8000), add a second site with its own label and origin port. The frontend stays on web; the API gets a label such asapi.

1. Run the frontend on port 3000 and the backend on port 8000, both bound to 0.0.0.0.
2. In Networking → Sites, keep web on origin port 3000.
3. Add a site labeled api with origin port 8000.
4. Attach your domain to web and a subdomain (for example api.your-domain.com) to api.

The public URLs become https://your-domain.com andhttps://api-your-domain.nairacloud.xyz (or the custom domain you attach toapi).

Important notes

• Bind to 0.0.0.0 inside the instance. The edge proxies to the guest IP; listening only on 127.0.0.1 returns 502.
• Origin ports 80 and 443 are owned by the node edge. Do not set a site origin port to 80 or 443 -- use your app’s real port (3000, 8000, etc.).
• Denied origin ports: 22, 25, 53, 137, 138, 139, 445, 1900, and 5353 cannot be site origin ports.
• Keep the DNS record DNS-only (no Cloudflare orange-cloud proxy) while the certificate is issued.
• One hostname maps to one site. A custom domain already attached elsewhere cannot be claimed again.