Run as a Service (Linux)

To keep a manual installation running across reboots, run it as a systemd service. If you already use PM2, see below. With Docker you do not need any of this: the container restarts on its own.

Using systemd

1. Create the Service

   Create /etc/systemd/system/planka.service:

   [Unit]
   Description=PLANKA
   After=network-online.target postgresql.service
   Wants=network-online.target
   
   [Service]
   User=planka
   WorkingDirectory=/var/www/planka
   Environment=NODE_ENV=production
   ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/node db/init.js
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/node app.js --prod
   Restart=on-failure
   RestartSec=5
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   For the nightly version, set WorkingDirectory to /var/www/planka/server. db/init.js applies pending database migrations on every start, so an update only needs a restart.

2. Enable and Start It

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable --now planka

3. Check It

   systemctl status planka
   journalctl -u planka -f

info

Does your existing service use npm start --prod and fail after an npm update? npm 12 rejects that flag. Replace the ExecStart line with the one above, then run sudo systemctl daemon-reload and sudo systemctl restart planka.

Using PM2

1. Install PM2 Globally

   sudo npm install pm2@latest -g

2. Start PLANKA as the planka User

   sudo -i -u planka
   cd /var/www/planka
   pm2 start --name planka "npm run db:init && npm run start:prod"

3. Save the Process List

   pm2 save

4. Launch on Boot

   pm2 startup systemd

   This prints a sudo command. Run it from an account that can use sudo.