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Example apps

Vite HTTP Server

This example demonstrates how to run a Vite project targeting production on Unikraft Cloud. The deployment doesn't perform any server-side rendering and instead serves the resulting artifacts statically (via npm run build) using nginx. To use Vite in server-side rendering (SSR) mode or via the dev subcommand on a NodeJS runtime, please see the httpserver-node-vite-vanilla sibling project.

To run this example, follow these steps:

1. Install the unikraft CLI. You need a BuildKit builder. The easiest way to get one is via Docker. Alternatively, you can also directly set up and use BuildKit, see the quick start.

2. Clone the examples repository and cd into the examples/httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla directory:

   Code
   git clone https://github.com/unikraft-cloud/examples
   cd examples/httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla/

Make sure to log into Unikraft Cloud and pick a metro close to you. This guide uses fra (Frankfurt, 🇩🇪):

Code
unikraft login

When done, invoke the following command to deploy this app on Unikraft Cloud:

Code
unikraft build . --output <my-org>/httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla:latest
unikraft run --metro fra \
  -m 256M \
  -p 443:8080/tls+http \
  --scale-to-zero policy=on,cooldown-time=1000 \
  --image <my-org>/httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla:latest

The output shows the instance address and other details:

Code
metro:        fra
name:         httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p
uuid:         d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-defa-234567890123
state:        starting
image:        <my-org>/httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla
resources:
  memory:     256MiB
  vcpus:      1
service:
  uuid:       ed42569f-a592-20e1-f506-7cb1bc1c84d6
  name:       swift-lake-m4n8vqzp
  domains:
  - fqdn:     swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app
networks:
- uuid:       d05bbdcf-8a0f-b8fe-0d9f-976c4c973701
  private-ip: 10.0.3.7
  mac:        12:b0:1a:5c:59:a9
timestamps:
  created:    just now

In this case, the instance name is httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p and the address is https://swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app. They're different for each run.

Use curl to query the Unikraft Cloud instance of the Vite instance:

Code
curl https://swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app

Code
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/vite.svg" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Vite App</title>
    ...
  </head>
  ...
</html>

You can list information about the instance by running:

Code
unikraft instances list

Code
METRO  NAME                                 STATE    IMAGE                                   ARGS  MEMORY  VCPUS  FQDN                                  CREATED
fra    httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p  running  <my-org>/httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla        256MiB  1      swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app  2 minutes ago

When done, you can remove the instance:

Code
unikraft instances delete httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p

Customize your app

To customize the app, update the files in the repository, listed below:

• Kraftfile: the Unikraft Cloud specification
• Dockerfile: the Docker-specified app filesystem
• src/: the Vite app source files

Lines in the Kraftfile have the following roles:

• spec: v0.7: The current Kraftfile specification version is 0.7.

• runtime: base-compat:latest: The runtime kernel to use is the base compatibility kernel.

• rootfs: Build the app root filesystem. source: ./Dockerfile means the filesystem is built using the Dockerfile. format: erofs means the filesystem type is EROFS.

• cmd: ["/usr/bin/nginx", "-c", "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf"]: Use nginx to serve the built static files as the starting command of the instance.

Lines in the Dockerfile have the following roles:

• FROM node:23 AS build: Build the Vite project using the Node.js 23 image.

• RUN npm ci; npm run build: Install dependencies and build the Vite project for production.

• FROM scratch: Build the runtime filesystem from a minimal base image.

• COPY --from=build /app/dist /wwwroot: nginx serves the built Vite artifacts from /wwwroot.

The following options are available for customizing the app:

• If you only update the source files in src/, you don't need to make any other changes.

• If you want to add extra files, you need to copy them into the filesystem using the COPY command in the Dockerfile.

• More extensive changes may require extending the Dockerfile (see Dockerfile syntax reference).

Learn more

• Nginx's Documentation
• Vite's Documentation
• Unikraft Cloud's Documentation
• Building Dockerfile images with Buildkit

Use the --help option for detailed information on using Unikraft Cloud:

Code
unikraft --help

Or visit the CLI Reference.