Deploy Backend API

The backend API is a Node.js Express server that handles Stripe webhooks, payment processing, and email notifications.

Overview

The API server (api/src/server.js) provides:

Stripe webhook handling for payment confirmations
Payment intent creation for checkout
Email notifications via Resend or Nodemailer
Image upload with Multer
Supabase integration with service role key

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ hosting platform (Railway, Render, Fly.io, or VPS)
Environment variables from Stripe and Supabase
Domain or public URL for webhooks

Deployment Options

Railway

Easy deployment with automatic HTTPS

Render

Free tier available for testing

Fly.io

Global edge deployment

Environment Variables

Configure Required Variables

Set these environment variables in your hosting platform:

.env

# Server
PORT=3000
CLIENT_ORIGIN=https://your-frontend.netlify.app

# Stripe
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=whsec_...

# Supabase
SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=eyJhbGc...

# Email (Resend)
RESEND_API_KEY=re_...
RESEND_FROM_EMAIL=noreply@yourdomain.com
RESEND_TO_EMAIL=contact@yourdomain.com

# Email (Alternative: Nodemailer)
EMAIL_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
EMAIL_PORT=587
EMAIL_USER=your-email@gmail.com
EMAIL_PASS=your-app-password
EMAIL_FROM=noreply@yourdomain.com

Use production keys for STRIPE_SECRET_KEY and STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET. Test keys start with sk_test_.

Set CORS Origins

The CLIENT_ORIGIN variable accepts comma-separated URLs:

CLIENT_ORIGIN=https://yourdomain.com,https://preview.yourdomain.com

This allows multiple frontend deployments (production + preview branches).

Deployment Steps

Railway
Render
Docker

Install Railway CLI

npm install -g @railway/cli
railway login

Initialize Project

cd api
railway init

Select “Create new project”.

Add Environment Variables

railway variables set STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_live_...
railway variables set SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=eyJhbGc...
# ... add all other variables

Deploy

railway up

Railway will:

Build the application
Run npm start (uses node src/server.js)
Provide a public URL

Create Web Service

Go to Render Dashboard
Click New → Web Service
Connect your Git repository

Configure Build Settings

Root Directory: api
Build Command: npm install
Start Command: npm start
Environment: Node

Add Environment Variables

In the Render dashboard, navigate to Environment and add all variables from the .env example above.

Deploy

Click Create Web Service. Render will automatically deploy on every push to your main branch.

Create a Dockerfile in the api/ directory:

Dockerfile

FROM node:20-alpine

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production

COPY . .

EXPOSE 3000

CMD ["node", "src/server.js"]

Build and run:

docker build -t sabbels-api .
docker run -p 3000:3000 --env-file .env sabbels-api

Package Configuration

The api/package.json defines startup scripts:

package.json

{
  "name": "api",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "dev": "node --env-file=.env --watch src/server.js",
    "start": "node src/server.js"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@supabase/supabase-js": "^2.51.0",
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "express": "^4.19.2",
    "multer": "^2.0.2",
    "nodemailer": "^7.0.6",
    "resend": "^6.6.0",
    "stripe": "^16.7.0"
  }
}

Script	Usage
`npm run dev`	Development with hot-reload and `.env` file
`npm start`	Production mode (reads env vars from platform)

Configure Stripe Webhook

Get Deployment URL

After deployment, note your API URL:

https://your-api.railway.app

Create Webhook in Stripe

Go to Stripe Dashboard → Webhooks
Click Add endpoint
Set endpoint URL: https://your-api.railway.app/webhook
Select events:
- payment_intent.succeeded
- payment_intent.payment_failed
- charge.refunded

Copy Webhook Secret

After creating the webhook, Stripe provides a signing secret:

whsec_abc123...

Add this to your environment variables as STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET.

Test Webhook

Use Stripe CLI to test locally:

stripe listen --forward-to https://your-api.railway.app/webhook
stripe trigger payment_intent.succeeded

Health Check

Verify the API is running:

curl https://your-api.railway.app/health

Expected response:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-02T23:30:00.000Z"
}

Monitoring and Logs

# View logs
railway logs

# Follow logs in real-time
railway logs --follow

Troubleshooting

Webhook signature verification fails

Error: Webhook signature verification failedSolutions:

Verify STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET matches the secret from Stripe dashboard
Ensure webhook endpoint URL is correct
Check that raw body is preserved (Express raw body parser)

CORS errors from frontend

Error: Access-Control-Allow-Origin header missingSolution: Add frontend URL to CLIENT_ORIGIN:

CLIENT_ORIGIN=https://your-frontend.netlify.app,https://deploy-preview-*.netlify.app

Email sending fails

Resend: Verify RESEND_API_KEY and that sending domain is verifiedNodemailer: For Gmail, use an App Password, not your regular password

Supabase connection errors

Error: Invalid API keySolution: Ensure you’re using the service role key, not the anon key. The service role key has full database access.

Production Checklist

All environment variables set with production values
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY is live mode (starts with sk_live_)
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET configured and tested
CLIENT_ORIGIN includes production frontend URL
Webhook endpoint registered in Stripe dashboard
Email service configured (Resend or Nodemailer)
Health check endpoint returns 200
Logs show no startup errors
Test payment flow end-to-end

Configuration

Deployment

Overview

Prerequisites

Deployment Options

Railway

Render

Fly.io

Environment Variables

Deployment Steps

Package Configuration

Configure Stripe Webhook

Health Check

Monitoring and Logs

Troubleshooting

Production Checklist

Next Steps

Frontend Deployment

Database Migrations

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Configuration

Deployment

Documentation Index

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Deployment Options

Railway

Render

Fly.io

​Environment Variables

​Deployment Steps

​Package Configuration

​Configure Stripe Webhook

​Health Check

​Monitoring and Logs

​Troubleshooting

​Production Checklist

​Next Steps

Frontend Deployment

Database Migrations

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Prerequisites

Deployment Options

Environment Variables

Deployment Steps

Package Configuration

Configure Stripe Webhook

Health Check

Monitoring and Logs

Troubleshooting

Production Checklist

Next Steps