How to Deploy Your Cursor App to DigitalOcean
Deploy your Cursor-built app to DigitalOcean App Platform with automatic deploys, managed databases, and scaling.
Before you start
- ✓A Cursor project on GitHub
- ✓A DigitalOcean account
Step by step
Create a new App Platform app
Go to DigitalOcean → App Platform → Create App. Connect your GitHub account and select your repository.
# DigitalOcean → App Platform → Create App # Source: GitHub → Select your repo # Branch: main
Configure the build settings
DigitalOcean auto-detects most frameworks. Verify the build and run commands.
# For Next.js: # Build: npm run build # Run: npm start # HTTP Port: 3000 # For static sites: # Build: npm run build # Output: out (or dist)
Add environment variables
Click Edit next to your component and add all required environment variables.
# App-level environment variables: # Click your component → Environment Variables # Add all vars from your .env.local
Choose your plan and deploy
Select the Basic plan (starts at $5/month) or use the free tier for static sites. Click Create Resources.
# Plans: # Static Site: Free # Basic: $5/month (512MB RAM) # Professional: $12/month (1GB RAM)
Add a custom domain
In your app settings, go to Domains and add your custom domain. DigitalOcean provides the DNS records.
# Settings → Domains → Add Domain # Add a CNAME record: # Name: @ or www # Value: your-app.ondigitalocean.app
Common errors
Build fails with 'out of memory'
The app runs out of memory during the build step.
Fix: Upgrade to the Professional plan or optimize your build. For Next.js, disable image optimization if not needed.
App crashes on startup
Missing environment variables or wrong port configuration.
Fix: Check Logs in App Platform. Set the HTTP port to match what your app listens on (usually 3000).
Static assets return 404
The build output directory is wrong.
Fix: Check your framework's build output folder. For Vite it's 'dist', for Next.js static export it's 'out'.