🚀Deploying a Node.js App to Google Cloud VM with GitHub Actions CI/CD Setup

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Introduction


This guide walks you through building a complete CI/CD pipeline that deploys a Node.js app from GitHub to a Google Compute Engine (GCE) Virtual Machine.

1. Every time you push code to the main branch:
2. GitHub Actions builds & tests your code
3. Creates a zip artifact
4. Securely copies it to your GCE VM
5. Deploys and restarts the app using systemd
6. Validates health automatically

You’ll end up with a zero-click deployment process.

Step 1 — Create a Sample Node.js App


Create your project:


mkdir sample-gce-app && cd sample-gce-app
npm init -y




Add a minimal web server:


mkdir src
cat > src/index.js <<'EOF'
const http = require('http');
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3000;

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
if (req.url === '/health') {
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'application/json'});
res.end(JSON.stringify({status: 'ok'}));
} else {
res.writeHead(200);
res.end('Hello from GCE VM ');
}
});

server.listen(PORT, () => console.log(`Server running on port ${PORT}`));
EOF




Add package.json scripts:


npm install
npm set-script start "node src/index.js"
npm set-script test "echo 'No tests yet'"




Then create a package-lock.json:


npm install




Commit both files — package.json and package-lock.json.

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You can use below source code repository

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Step 2 — Create a Google Cloud VM

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Go to Google Cloud Console → Compute Engine → Create VM Instance

Choose:

• OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• Machine: e2-micro (for demo)
• Allow HTTP/HTTPS traffic

Generate a deploy key:


ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -f ~/.ssh/gcpdeploy_key




Copy the public key (~/.ssh/gcpdeploy_key.pub) into the VM → Edit → SSH Keys.

Note the external IP.

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Step 3 — Prepare Your VM


SSH into your VM:


ssh -i ~/.ssh/gcpdeploy_key ubuntu@<your-external-ip>




Install dependencies:


curl -fsSL

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| sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs unzip




Create app directory:


sudo mkdir -p /opt/myapp
sudo chown -R ubuntu:ubuntu /opt/myapp



Step 4 — Create a systemd Service


Create /etc/systemd/system/myapp.service:


[Unit]
Description=Sample Node App
After=network.target

[Service]
User=ubuntu
WorkingDirectory=/opt/myapp/current
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node /opt/myapp/current/src/index.js
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
Environment=PORT=3000
StandardOutput=append:/var/log/myapp.log
StandardError=append:/var/log/myapp.err

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target




Enable service:


sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable myapp



Step 5 — Configure GitHub Secrets


Go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret

Secret Name	Example Value
GCE_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY	(contents of ~/.ssh/gcpdeploy_key)
GCE_SSH_USER	ubuntu
GCE_SSH_HOST	34.xxx.xxx.xxx
GCE_REMOTE_DIR	/opt/myapp
GCE_SSH_PORT	22

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Step 6 — GitHub Actions Workflow


Create .github/workflows/ci-cd.yml:


name: CI/CD → GCE VM

on:
push:
branches:
- main

jobs:
build-test-deploy:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
env:
REMOTE_DIR: ${{ secrets.GCE_REMOTE_DIR }}
SSH_USER: ${{ secrets.GCE_SSH_USER }}
SSH_HOST: ${{ secrets.GCE_SSH_HOST }}
SSH_PORT: ${{ secrets.GCE_SSH_PORT || '22' }}

steps:
- name: Checkout code
uses: actions/checkout@v4

- name: Set up Node.js
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: '18'

- name: Verify lock file
run: |
if [ ! -f package-lock.json ]; then
echo "No lockfile found — generating one."
npm install
fi

- name: Install dependencies
run: npm ci --prefer-online --no-audit

- name: Run tests
run: npm test

- name: Create deployment artifact
run: |
mkdir -p build
cp package*.json build/
cp -r src build/
cd build && zip -r ../artifact.zip .
ls -lh ../artifact.zip

- name: Configure SSH key
run: |
mkdir -p ~/.ssh
echo "${{ secrets.GCE_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}" > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
ssh-keyscan -p ${{ env.SSH_PORT }} ${{ env.SSH_HOST }} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts

- name: Copy artifact to GCE VM
uses: appleboy/scp-action@v0.1.7
with:
host: ${{ env.SSH_HOST }}
username: ${{ env.SSH_USER }}
port: ${{ env.SSH_PORT }}
key: ${{ secrets.GCE_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
source: "artifact.zip"
target: "${{ env.REMOTE_DIR }}"

- name: Deploy & restart service
uses: appleboy/ssh-action@v0.1.8
with:
host: ${{ env.SSH_HOST }}
username: ${{ env.SSH_USER }}
port: ${{ env.SSH_PORT }}
key: ${{ secrets.GCE_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}
script: |
set -e
echo "Deploying new version to ${REMOTE_DIR}"
cd "${REMOTE_DIR}"
mkdir -p releases
TIMESTAMP=$(date +%s)
mkdir -p releases/$TIMESTAMP
unzip -o artifact.zip -d releases/$TIMESTAMP
rm -rf current_prev || true
[ -d current ] && mv current current_prev || true
mv releases/$TIMESTAMP current
cd current
npm ci --omit=dev || npm install --omit=dev
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart myapp || (echo "Restart failed, rolling back..." && sudo systemctl stop myapp && rm -rf current && mv current_prev current && sudo systemctl start myapp)
sleep 3
curl -f

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|| echo "Health check failed"



Step 7 — Trigger a Deployment


Commit and push:


git add .
git commit -m "Enable full CI/CD deployment"
git push origin main




GitHub Actions will:

1. Checkout & build
2. Install deps from package-lock.json
3. Run tests
4. Zip app
5. Upload via SCP
6. Unzip on GCE
7. Restart myapp.service
8. Validate health

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Step 8 — Verify on VM


Check service:


sudo systemctl status myapp




View logs:


tail -f /var/log/myapp.log




App should be live at:


http://<your-external-ip>:3000



Rollback Logic Built-In


If the new version fails to start, the script automatically:

• Moves current_prev back to current
• Restarts the last working version

Bonus Improvements


Add npm caching:


- name: Cache npm modules
uses: actions/cache@v4
with:
path: ~/.npm
key: ${{ runner.os }}-npm-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}
restore-keys: |
${{ runner.os }}-npm-




Log rotation:


sudo nano /etc/logrotate.d/myapp

/var/log/myapp.log /var/log/myapp.err {
weekly
rotate 4
compress
missingok
notifempty
}





Final Directory Layout on GCE


/opt/myapp/
├── artifact.zip
├── current/ ← active release
│ ├── src/
│ └── package.json
├── current_prev/ ← backup previous release
└── releases/
└── <timestamp>/



Summary

Stage	Action
Build	npm ci using package-lock.json
Test	Run Jest/unit tests
Artifact	Create artifact.zip
Deploy	Copy to GCE via SSH
Rollback	Auto restore previous release if failed
Validate	curl Пожалуйста Авторизируйтесь или Зарегистрируйтесь для просмотра скрытого текста.
Persistent	Managed by systemd

Final Result


Your pipeline is now:

• Secure (SSH key-based deploys)
• Repeatable (lockfile ensures consistent builds)
• Resilient (automatic rollback)
• Continuous (Git push = deploy)
• Observable (logs + health checks)

Thanks for reading! If this post added value, a like , follow, or share would encourage me to keep creating more content.


— Latchu | Senior DevOps & Cloud Engineer

AWS | GCP | Kubernetes | Security | Automation
Sharing hands-on guides, best practices & real-world cloud solutions

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