Meteor deployment

meteor build

produces a self-contained Node bundle that runs anywhere the matching Node.js version runs. Galaxy is the first-party host; Docker / Kubernetes / SSH-to-a-Node-host all work too.

Match the Node version to the bundled Meteor Node:

Meteor	Node major
3.0	20
3.1 through 3.4	22
3.5+	24

Mismatch causes runtime errors. Run

meteor node -v

to confirm.

Decision flow

Galaxy? Choose Git Push to Deploy or the Meteor CLI. Configure Galaxy's settings source, build hooks, health checks, and domains from
```
references/galaxy.md
```
.
Docker / Kubernetes?
```
meteor build --directory ./build --server-only
```
skips platform-specific mobile artifacts. Use
```
--architecture os.linux.x86_64
```
for a cross-build.
SSH to a Node host? Same
```
meteor build
```
, scp the bundle, install prod deps under
```
bundle/programs/server
```
, run
```
node main.js
```
.
Vercel / Netlify / serverless? Not supported. Meteor needs a long-lived Node process with a WebSocket.

Required environment

Var	Purpose
`ROOT_URL`	Absolute external URL (e.g. `https://app.example.com` ).
`MONGO_URL`	`mongodb://...` connection string.
`MONGO_OPLOG_URL`	Optional Mongo replica oplog URL.
`PORT`	Listen port. Default 3000.
`BIND_IP`	Network interface. Default 0.0.0.0.
`METEOR_SETTINGS`	JSON; populates `Meteor.settings` .
`MAIL_URL`	SMTP for `Email.send` and account emails.

ROOT_URL

is the external URL the browser sees, not the cluster-internal service URL. OAuth redirects,

Meteor.absoluteUrl

, and CSP all rely on it.

On Meteor 3.0 through 3.4, configure

MONGO_OPLOG_URL

for oplog-backed reactivity; without it, Meteor polls. Meteor 3.5+ can use core change streams without that variable and falls back to oplog or polling when needed. Atlas hosting alone does not add core change-stream support to an older Meteor app.

settings.json

json

{
  "public": { "appName": "My App", "stripePublishableKey": "pk_live_..." },
  "stripeSecretKey": "sk_live_...",
  "oauthSecretKey": "16-byte-base64==",
  "mailgun": { "apiKey": "..." }
}

Top-level keys: server only.

public

subtree: shipped to the client.

Load:

bash

# dev
meteor run --settings settings.json

# production
METEOR_SETTINGS=$(cat settings.json) node bundle/main.js

Galaxy

Choose one deployment path:

Path	Use when	Trigger
Push to Deploy	Galaxy should build a connected GitHub or Bitbucket branch.	Every push to the selected branch.
Meteor CLI	A person or CI pipeline controls each upload.	`meteor deploy <app-name>` .

For a Free app, pass a simple app name, not a custom domain:

bash

meteor login
meteor deploy myapp --free --settings settings.json

DEPLOY_HOSTNAME=eu-west-1.galaxy-deploy.meteor.com \
  meteor deploy myapp --plan essentials --settings settings.json

Galaxy assigns a

myapp.sandbox.galaxycloud.app

hostname on Free or a regional

myapp.<region>.galaxycloud.app

hostname on paid plans. Add custom domains in the dashboard. The active primary domain controls

ROOT_URL

Galaxy injects

PORT

ROOT_URL

, and

METEOR_SETTINGS

. Put

MONGO_URL

MAIL_URL

, and other server environment values under

galaxy.meteor.com.env

in the Galaxy settings JSON. Do not assume a CLI

--settings

file overrides Repository Mode.

See

references/galaxy.md

for settings modes, Push to Deploy builds, zero-downtime rollout and rollback, proxies, Mongo TLS, memory, and custom base images.

Docker

See

references/docker.md

for a working multi-stage Dockerfile. Build the bundle in one stage, install server deps and run in a smaller one.

--server-only

skips platform-specific mobile application builds, but it does not omit the browser client or create an API-only bundle. Meteor still builds the

web.cordova

client target used for hot code push.

Hot code push

autoupdate

provides production hot code push. It detects a new client version over DDP, applies stylesheet-only changes without reloading when possible, and otherwise performs a full browser reload. Remove

autoupdate

from

.meteor/packages

to disable HCP.

hot-module-replacement

is different. It replaces accepted JavaScript modules during development and falls back to HCP when a module cannot accept the update. HMR is disabled in production and on unsupported web architectures. There is no

Meteor.disableClientResourceFetch

switch in the current public API.

Anti-patterns

Commit
```
settings.json
```
with production secrets. Use a CI secret store or env vars; load with
```
METEOR_SETTINGS=$(cat ...)
```
at startup.
Set
```
ROOT_URL
```
to the internal Kubernetes service URL. Use the external HTTPS URL or OAuth redirects and
```
Meteor.absoluteUrl
```
break.
Run a Node version that does not match the bundled Meteor Node. Always check
```
meteor node -v
```
.
Build on the wrong architecture. M-series Mac developers building for x86_64 Linux must pass
```
--architecture os.linux.x86_64
```
.
Commit Galaxy settings with credentials or expect Repository Mode to read a CLI
```
--settings
```
file. Keep secrets in Galaxy Mode or a secret store.
Hardcode Galaxy's port, load-balancer IP, or regional DNS target. Read
```
$PORT
```
and copy current network values from the app dashboard.
Bundle the source tree into the Docker image alongside the built bundle. Use multi-stage; the runtime image holds only
```
bundle/
```
.

meteor-deployment

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content