Headless CMS

Git-Backed

Deploy TinaCMS on a VPS

Open-source, Git-backed headless CMS with real-time visual editing — self-hosted with MongoDB, Next.js, Nginx, and PM2.

At a Glance

Project	TinaCMS
License	Apache 2.0
Recommended Plan	RamNode Cloud VPS 2 GB+
OS	Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 LTS
Stack	Next.js, MongoDB, Nginx, PM2
Estimated Setup Time	25–35 minutes

Prerequisites

A RamNode VPS with at least 2 GB RAM
Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 LTS
A registered domain name with DNS pointed to your VPS
A GitHub account and repository for content storage
SSH access with a sudo-enabled user

Initial Server Setup

Update system and install tools

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl git build-essential

Set hostname and configure firewall

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname cms
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
sudo ufw enable

Install Node.js

Install Node.js 20.x via NodeSource

curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

Verify and install pnpm

node -v
npm -v
sudo npm install -g pnpm

Install and Configure MongoDB

TinaCMS uses MongoDB as a cache layer for its GraphQL API. Content source of truth remains your Git-backed Markdown and JSON files.

Add MongoDB 7.0 repository

curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-7.0.asc | sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg --dearmor

echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-7.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu jammy/mongodb-org/7.0 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-7.0.list

Install and start MongoDB

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mongodb-org
sudo systemctl start mongod
sudo systemctl enable mongod

Create database user

mongosh

use admin
db.createUser({
  user: "tinaadmin",
  pwd: "REPLACE_WITH_A_STRONG_PASSWORD",
  roles: [{ role: "readWrite", db: "tinacms" }]
})
exit

Enable authentication

# Edit /etc/mongod.conf — update the security section:
security:
  authorization: enabled

Restart MongoDB

sudo systemctl restart mongod

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token

Navigate to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic) and generate a new token with the repo scope. Copy the token immediately — GitHub will not show it again.

Clone and Configure TinaCMS

Clone the self-hosted starter

cd /home/$USER
git clone https://github.com/tinacms/tina-self-hosted-demo.git tinacms
cd tinacms
pnpm install
cp .env.sample .env

Environment variables

# .env
GITHUB_OWNER=your-github-username
GITHUB_REPO=your-repo-name
GITHUB_BRANCH=main
GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

MONGODB_URI=mongodb://tinaadmin:REPLACE_WITH_A_STRONG_PASSWORD@127.0.0.1:27017/tinacms?authSource=admin

NEXTAUTH_SECRET=run-openssl-rand-base64-32-to-generate-this

TINA_PUBLIC_IS_LOCAL=false

Generate NEXTAUTH_SECRET

openssl rand -base64 32

Build and Test

Build and verify

pnpm build
pnpm start

The app should be accessible on port 3000. Navigate to http://YOUR_VPS_IP:3000/admin/index.html to verify the admin interface loads. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Set Up PM2 Process Management

Install and configure PM2

sudo npm install -g pm2
cd /home/$USER/tinacms
pm2 start pnpm --name "tinacms" -- start
pm2 save
pm2 startup

Run the command PM2 outputs with sudo to enable auto-start on reboot. Verify with pm2 status.

Configure Nginx Reverse Proxy

Install Nginx

sudo apt install -y nginx

Nginx server block

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/tinacms
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name cms.yourdomain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Enable the site

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

Secure with Let's Encrypt SSL

Install Certbot and obtain certificate

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d cms.yourdomain.com
sudo systemctl status certbot.timer

Update NEXTAUTH_URL and rebuild

# Add to .env:
NEXTAUTH_URL=https://cms.yourdomain.com

Rebuild and restart

cd /home/$USER/tinacms
pnpm build
pm2 restart tinacms

Log In and Update Default Password

Navigate to https://cms.yourdomain.com/admin/index.html. Default credentials are in content/users/index.json. Update the password immediately after first login.

Maintenance

Update TinaCMS: cd ~/tinacms && git pull && pnpm install && pnpm build && pm2 restart tinacms
View logs: pm2 logs tinacms
Nginx logs: sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log
Backup MongoDB: mongodump --uri="mongodb://tinaadmin:PASSWORD@127.0.0.1:27017/tinacms?authSource=admin" --out=/home/$USER/backups/mongo/$(date +%Y%m%d)

Architecture Overview

Next.js serves frontend and TinaCMS backend API (GraphQL + auth)
MongoDB acts as cache layer for search, filtering, and pagination
GitHub stores content files (Markdown, MDX, JSON) as source of truth
Auth.js handles user authentication
Nginx reverse proxy with SSL termination
PM2 manages the Node.js process with auto-restart

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