Replit Production Checklist

Overview

Complete checklist for deploying Replit apps to production using Autoscale or Reserved VM deployments. Covers configuration, secrets, health checks, custom domains, rollback procedures, and monitoring.

Prerequisites

• Replit Core, Pro, or Teams plan (deployment access)
• App tested and working in Workspace
• PostgreSQL database provisioned (if needed)
• Custom domain (optional) with DNS access

Production Deployment Checklist

Phase 1: Configuration

• .replit deployment section configured:

[deployment]
run = ["sh", "-c", "npm start"]
build = ["sh", "-c", "npm ci --production && npm run build"]
deploymentTarget = "autoscale"  # or "cloudrun" for Reserved VM

• replit.nix includes only required system packages (trim dev-only deps)
• NODE_ENV set to "production" in .replit env section
• Port reads from process.env.PORT

Phase 2: Secrets

• All secrets configured in Replit Secrets tab
• Secrets sync enabled (Workspace <-> Deployment)
• No hardcoded credentials in source code
• Startup validates all required secrets:

const REQUIRED = ['DATABASE_URL', 'JWT_SECRET'];
const missing = REQUIRED.filter(k => !process.env[k]);
if (missing.length) {
  console.error(`FATAL: Missing secrets: ${missing.join(', ')}`);
  process.exit(1);
}

Phase 3: Health Check

• /health endpoint exists and checks dependencies:

app.get('/health', async (req, res) => {
  const checks = {
    db: false,
    uptime: process.uptime(),
    memory: Math.round(process.memoryUsage().heapUsed / 1024 / 1024),
  };

  try {
    await pool.query('SELECT 1');
    checks.db = true;
  } catch {}

  const status = checks.db ? 200 : 503;
  res.status(status).json({ status: status === 200 ? 'healthy' : 'degraded', ...checks });
});

• Health endpoint does NOT expose secrets or internal paths
• Health endpoint responds within 5 seconds

Phase 4: Error Handling

• Global error handler catches uncaught exceptions:

// Never expose stack traces in production
app.use((err: Error, req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => {
  console.error('Unhandled error:', err.message);
  res.status(500).json({
    error: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'
      ? 'Internal server error'
      : err.message,
  });
});

process.on('uncaughtException', (err) => {
  console.error('Uncaught exception:', err.message);
  process.exit(1);
});

process.on('unhandledRejection', (reason) => {
  console.error('Unhandled rejection:', reason);
});

• Rate limiting on public endpoints
• Input validation on all user data (Zod, Joi, or manual)

Phase 5: Deploy

Via Replit UI:

1. Click "Deploy" button in top bar
2. Choose type:
   • Static: Frontend-only (HTML/CSS/JS), free
   • Autoscale: Scales to zero, pay per request (best for variable traffic)
   • Reserved VM: Always-on, fixed cost (best for consistent traffic)
3. Select machine size (0.25-8 vCPU)
4. Click "Deploy"

Via .replit config (automatic on push):

[deployment]
run = ["sh", "-c", "node dist/index.js"]
build = ["sh", "-c", "npm ci --production && npm run build"]
deploymentTarget = "autoscale"

Phase 6: Custom Domain

1. Deployment Settings > Custom Domain
2. Enter domain: app.example.com
3. Add DNS record at your registrar:
   CNAME: app -> your-repl-slug.replit.app
4. Wait 1-5 minutes for SSL auto-provisioning
5. Verify: curl -I https://app.example.com

For Replit-purchased domains: manage DNS directly in Replit dashboard.

Phase 7: Post-Deploy Verification

set -euo pipefail
DEPLOY_URL="https://your-app.replit.app"

# Health check
curl -sf "$DEPLOY_URL/health" | jq .

# Response time
curl -s -o /dev/null -w "HTTP %{http_code}, %{time_total}s\n" "$DEPLOY_URL/"

# Headers check
curl -sI "$DEPLOY_URL" | grep -iE "(server|content-type|x-)"

Phase 8: Rollback Plan

Replit Deployments support one-click rollback to any previous successful deployment:

1. Go to Deployment Settings > History
2. Find the last known-good deployment
3. Click "Rollback to this version"
4. Verify health endpoint after rollback

Monitoring Recommendations

Error Handling

Resources

• Replit Deployments
• Deployment Rollbacks
• Custom Domains
• Replit Status

Next Steps

For version upgrades, see replit-upgrade-migration.