Introduction
# PM2 Process Manager
Production process manager for Node.js with built-in load balancer.
## Install
```bash npm install -g pm2 ```
## Quick Start
```bash # Start an app pm2 start app.js pm2 start npm --name "my-app" -- start pm2 start "npm run start" --name my-app
# With specific port/env pm2 start npm --name "my-app" -- start -- --port 3000 PORT=3000 pm2 start npm --name "my-app" -- start ```
## Common Commands
```bash # List processes pm2 list pm2 ls
# Logs pm2 logs # All logs pm2 logs my-app # Specific app pm2 logs --lines 100 # Last 100 lines
# Control pm2 restart my-app pm2 stop my-app pm2 delete my-app pm2 reload my-app # Zero-downtime reload
# Info pm2 show my-app pm2 monit # Real-time monitor ```
## Auto-Start on Boot
```bash # Save current process list pm2 save
# Generate startup script (run the output command with sudo) pm2 startup
# Example output - run this: # sudo env PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin pm2 startup launchd -u username --hp /Users/username ```
## Next.js / Production Builds
```bash # Build first npm run build
# Start production server pm2 start npm --name "my-app" -- start
# Or with ecosystem file pm2 start ecosystem.config.js ```
## Ecosystem File (ecosystem.config.js)
```javascript module.exports = { apps: [{ name: 'my-app', script: 'npm', args: 'start', cwd: '/path/to/app', env: { NODE_ENV: 'production', PORT: 3000 } }] } ```
## Useful Flags
| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | `--name` | Process name | | `--watch` | Restart on file changes | | `-i max` | Cluster mode (all CPUs) | | `--max-memory-restart 200M` | Auto-restart on memory limit | | `--cron "0 * * * *"` | Scheduled restart |
## Cleanup
```bash pm2 delete all # Remove all processes pm2 kill # Kill PM2 daemon pm2 unstartup # Remove startup script ```