Mean.io on Dokku

Here’s how I set up the Mean.io stack for deployment with Dokku.

• Set up MongoDB on the Dokku host and create a database. I used Jeff Utter’s single container plugin for this.

  $ dokku mongodb:start
  $ dokku mongodb:create <app> <database>
  $ dokku mongodb:link <app> <database>
  

• Modify config/env/production.js to use ENV var for MongoDB URL:

  'use strict';
  
  module.exports = {
    db: process.env.MONGO_URL,
  
  // [REST OF FILE ELIDED]
  

• Configure the application to run in the production environment:

  $ dokku config:set <app> NODE_ENV=production
  

• Set the unsafe-perm npm configuration option to allow npm to operate under the root account. More information here. Create .npmrc as follows:

  unsafe-perm = true
  

• Configure a buildpack which supports Grunt in .env:

  BUILDPACK_URL=https://github.com/mbuchetics/heroku-buildpack-nodejs-grunt.git
  

• Add Heroku build task without environment to Gruntfile.js since Dokku doesn’t read config during build steps:

    // [REST OF FILE ELIDED]
  
    // For Heroku users only.
    // Docs: https://github.com/linnovate/mean/wiki/Deploying-on-Heroku
    grunt.registerTask('heroku:production', ['cssmin', 'uglify']);
  
    // Dokku does not set ENV vars during build steps:
    grunt.registerTask('heroku:', ['cssmin', 'uglify']);
  };