Deploy TanStack Start on AWS

Deploy your TanStack Start applications to AWS using Thunder patterns. This guide covers server-side rendering deployments with ECS Fargate and Application Load Balancer.

TanStack Start applications are deployed using the Fargate construct, which provides full-stack SSR capabilities with managed containerization.

Full Stack Deployment

Deploy server-side rendered TanStack Start applications using ECS Fargate and Application Load Balancer with the Fargate construct.

Create Project

Terminal window
npx tanstack create my-tanstack-app
cd my-tanstack-app

Install Dependencies and Setup Stack

Terminal window
npm i tsx @thunder-so/thunder --save-dev
stack/index.ts
import { Cdk, Fargate, type FargateProps } from "@thunder-so/thunder";


const svcProps: FargateProps = {
  env: {
    account: 'your-account-id',
    region: 'us-west-2'
  },
  application: 'your-application-id',
  service: 'your-service-id',
  environment: 'production',


  rootDir: '', // e.g. 'app' for monorepos
};


new Fargate(
  new Cdk.App(),
  `${svcProps.application}-${svcProps.service}-${svcProps.environment}-stack`,
  svcProps
);

Build Settings Using Nixpacks

Configure automatic containerization with Nixpacks:

stack/index.ts
const svcProps: FargateProps = {
  // ... other props


  buildProps: {
    buildSystem: 'Nixpacks',
    installcmd: 'bun install',
    buildcmd: 'bun run build',
    startcmd: 'bun run start',
  },
};

Build Settings Using Docker Container

Alternatively, use a custom Dockerfile:

Dockerfile
FROM public.ecr.aws/docker/library/node:20-alpine AS base


FROM base AS builder
WORKDIR /app


COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci


COPY . .
RUN npm run build


FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app


ENV NODE_ENV=production


COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist


EXPOSE 3000


CMD ["node", "./dist/server/index.js"]
stack/index.ts
const svcProps: FargateProps = {
  // ... other props


  serviceProps: {
    dockerFile: 'Dockerfile',
    port: 3000,
  },
};

Environment Variables and Secrets for SSR

Configure runtime environment variables and secrets:

stack/index.ts
const svcProps: FargateProps = {
  // ... other props


  serviceProps: {
    variables: [
      { NODE_ENV: 'production' },
      { PUBLIC_API_URL: 'https://api.example.com' }
    ],
    secrets: [
      {
        key: 'DATABASE_URL',
        resource: 'arn:aws:secretsmanager:us-west-2:123456789012:secret:/my-app/DATABASE_URL-abc123'
      },
    ],
  },
};

Deploy

Build and deploy your containerized application:

Terminal window
npm run build
npx cdk deploy --all --app="npx tsx stack/index.ts"

After deployment, you’ll receive an Application Load Balancer URL to access your SSR application.