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This guide walks through deploying Blockchain Drive to a production environment. It assumes you have already verified the app works locally in development (mock mode). The key differences in production are: real smart contracts are deployed to a live network, USE_REAL_CONTRACTS=true is set, and both the backend and frontend are built for production use.

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System requirements

Before you begin, make sure the following are available on your server or infrastructure:

Node.js 18+

The Express API and Next.js frontend both require Node.js 18 or later. Run node --version to check.

IPFS Kubo daemon

A running Kubo node reachable at a stable address. The backend proxies all file operations through it.

MongoDB

A running MongoDB instance. The backend connects via MONGO_URI (default: mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017) and uses the database specified by MONGO_DB_NAME or DB_NAME (default: ipfs_app).

Ethereum RPC endpoint

A JSON-RPC endpoint for your target network — Polygon Mumbai, mainnet via Infura or Alchemy, or a self-hosted node.

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Deploy the smart contracts

1

Install dependencies

Install project dependencies in the backend directory before running the deployment script.
npm install
2

Run the deployment script

Deploy both contracts to your chosen network using Hardhat. Replace <network> with the network name defined in your hardhat.config.js (for example, mumbai, mainnet, or localhost).
npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.js --network <network>
The script prints the deployed contract addresses to stdout. Save these — you will need them in the next step.
3

Set contract addresses in .env

Update your .env file with the addresses printed by the deployment script.
STORAGE_ALLOC_CONTRACT=0xYourDeployedStorageAllocAddress
DRIVE_V2_CONTRACT=0xYourDeployedDriveV2Address

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Configure environment variables

With the contracts deployed, update the remaining production-critical variables in your .env file.
1

Enable real contract mode

Set USE_REAL_CONTRACTS to true. When this is false (the development default), all contract calls are mocked and the addresses above are ignored.
USE_REAL_CONTRACTS=true
2

Set the RPC URL and admin private key

Point the backend at your Ethereum RPC endpoint and supply the private key of the wallet that will sign on-chain transactions.
RPC_URL=https://your-rpc-endpoint.example.com
ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY=your_admin_wallet_private_key
ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY must never be committed to source control. Store it using a secrets manager or inject it via environment variables in your hosting platform. Add .env to .gitignore if it is not already there.
3

Set the main admin wallet

Set MAIN_ADMIN_WALLET to the Ethereum address that should receive admin rights on its first login. This is typically the address corresponding to ADMIN_PRIVATE_KEY, but it can be any wallet address.
MAIN_ADMIN_WALLET=0xYourAdminWalletAddress
4

Set remaining server variables

Configure the session secret, Node environment, database credentials, and IPFS URLs. See the environment variables reference for the full list.
NODE_ENV=production
SESSION_SECRET=a-long-random-secret-string
MONGO_URI=mongodb://your-mongo-host:27017
MONGO_DB_NAME=ipfs_app
IPFS_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5002/api/v0
IPFS_GATEWAY_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5002
BACKEND_URL=https://api.yourdomain.com

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Start the backend

The start script in package.json runs node server.js directly. 
npm start
On startup the server prints the API URL, the IPFS endpoint it is connected to, the Node environment, and whether it is in real or mock contract mode. Verify these values match your configuration before continuing.
In production, run the backend under a process manager such as PM2 or systemd so it restarts automatically on failure. Example with PM2: pm2 start server.js --name blockchain-drive-api.

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Start the frontend

The Next.js frontend lives in the front end subdirectory (note the space in the name). 
cd "front end" && npm run build && npm start
npm run build compiles the Next.js application. npm start serves it on port 3000 by default. Place a reverse proxy (Nginx, Caddy, or a load balancer) in front of both services if you need custom ports or TLS termination.

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Verify the deployment

Once both processes are running, confirm the backend is healthy by calling the /health endpoint: 
curl https://api.yourdomain.com/health
A healthy backend returns: 
{ "ok": true, "database": "connected" }
If the database connection fails, the endpoint returns HTTP 503 with "database": "error" and an error message. Check your DB_* environment variables and confirm the database server is reachable from the backend host.

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