bentopdf/docs/self-hosting/nginx.md

Deploy with Nginx

Host BentoPDF on your own server using Nginx.

Prerequisites

• Ubuntu/Debian server
• Nginx installed
• SSL certificate (recommended: Let's Encrypt)

Step 1: Build the Project

git clone https://github.com/alam00000/bentopdf.git
cd bentopdf
npm install
npm run build

To customize branding, set environment variables before building:

VITE_BRAND_NAME="AcmePDF" VITE_BRAND_LOGO="images/acme-logo.svg" npm run build

Step 2: Copy Files

sudo mkdir -p /var/www/bentopdf
sudo cp -r dist/* /var/www/bentopdf/
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/bentopdf

Step 3: Nginx Configuration

Create /etc/nginx/sites-available/bentopdf:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name your-domain.com;

    # SSL Configuration
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-domain.com/privkey.pem;

    root /var/www/bentopdf;
    index index.html;

    # Gzip compression
    gzip on;
    gzip_types text/plain text/css application/json application/javascript text/xml application/xml application/wasm;
    gzip_min_length 1000;

    # WASM MIME type
    types {
        application/wasm wasm;
    }

    # Required headers for SharedArrayBuffer (LibreOffice WASM)
    # These must be on every response - especially HTML pages
    add_header Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy "require-corp" always;
    add_header Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy "same-origin" always;
    add_header Cross-Origin-Resource-Policy "cross-origin" always;

    # Security headers
    add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;

    # Pre-compressed LibreOffice WASM binary
    location ~* /libreoffice-wasm/soffice\.wasm\.gz$ {
        gzip off;
        types {} default_type application/wasm;
        add_header Content-Encoding gzip;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
        add_header Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy "require-corp" always;
        add_header Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy "same-origin" always;
    }

    # Pre-compressed LibreOffice WASM data
    location ~* /libreoffice-wasm/soffice\.data\.gz$ {
        gzip off;
        types {} default_type application/octet-stream;
        add_header Content-Encoding gzip;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
        add_header Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy "require-corp" always;
        add_header Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy "same-origin" always;
    }

    # Cache static assets
    location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|ico|svg|woff|woff2|wasm)$ {
        expires 1y;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
        add_header Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy "require-corp" always;
        add_header Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy "same-origin" always;
    }

    # SPA routing - serve index.html for all routes
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
        add_header Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy "require-corp" always;
        add_header Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy "same-origin" always;
    }
}

Step 4: Enable the Site

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/bentopdf /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 5: SSL with Let's Encrypt

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d your-domain.com

Subdirectory Deployment

To host at /pdf/:

location /pdf/ {
    alias /var/www/bentopdf/;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /pdf/index.html;
}

Build with:

BASE_URL=/pdf/ npm run build

Performance Tuning

Add to nginx.conf:

http {
    # Enable sendfile
    sendfile on;
    tcp_nopush on;
    tcp_nodelay on;

    # Increase buffer sizes
    client_max_body_size 100M;

    # Worker connections
    worker_connections 2048;
}

Troubleshooting

WASM Not Loading

Ensure MIME type is set:

types {
    application/wasm wasm;
}

Word/ODT/Excel to PDF Not Working

LibreOffice WASM requires SharedArrayBuffer, which needs Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy and Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy headers. Note that nginx add_header directives in a location block override server-level add_header directives — they don't merge. Every location block with its own add_header must include the COEP/COOP headers.

Verify with:

curl -I https://your-domain.com/ | grep -i cross-origin

If using a reverse proxy in front of nginx, ensure it preserves these headers.

502 Bad Gateway

Check Nginx error logs:

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log