Guides

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:

Install the CLI and a container runtime engine, for example Docker. Use the unikraft CLI or the legacy kraft CLI.
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, 🇩🇪):

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

The output shows the instance address and other details:

Code
[●] Deployed successfully!
 │
 ├────────── name: httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p
 ├────────── uuid: d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-defa-234567890123
 ├───────── state: starting
 ├──────── domain: https://swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app
 ├───────── image: httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla@sha256:9c5f2d8b4e7a1c3f6d9b2e5a8c1f4d7a0b3e6c9f2d5a8b1e4c7f0d3a6b9c2
 ├──────── memory: 256 MiB
 ├─────── service: swift-lake-m4n8vqzp
 ├── private fqdn: httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p.internal
 ├──── private ip: 172.16.3.7
 └────────── args: /usr/bin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

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
NAME                                 FQDN                                  STATE    STATUS       IMAGE                                        MEMORY   VCPUS  ARGS                                     BOOT TIME
httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p  swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app  running  since 3mins  httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla@sha256:9c5...  256 MiB  1      /usr/bin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf  198.62 ms

When done, you can remove the instance:

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: v0.6: The current Kraftfile specification version is 0.6.
runtime: nginx:latest: The nginx kernel to use.
rootfs: ./Dockerfile: Build the app root filesystem using the Dockerfile.
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

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

Or visit the CLI Reference or the legacy CLI Reference.

Edit this page

Last modified on April 10, 2026

Visual Studio Code Server vsftpd

Code

[●] Deployed successfully!
 │
 ├────────── name: httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p
 ├────────── uuid: d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0123-defa-234567890123
 ├───────── state: starting
 ├──────── domain: https://swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app
 ├───────── image: httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla@sha256:9c5f2d8b4e7a1c3f6d9b2e5a8c1f4d7a0b3e6c9f2d5a8b1e4c7f0d3a6b9c2
 ├──────── memory: 256 MiB
 ├─────── service: swift-lake-m4n8vqzp
 ├── private fqdn: httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p.internal
 ├──── private ip: 172.16.3.7
 └────────── args: /usr/bin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

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>

Code

NAME                                 FQDN                                  STATE    STATUS       IMAGE                                        MEMORY   VCPUS  ARGS                                     BOOT TIME
httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla-2rk6p  swift-lake-m4n8vqzp.fra.unikraft.app  running  since 3mins  httpserver-nginx-vite-vanilla@sha256:9c5...  256 MiB  1      /usr/bin/nginx -c /etc/nginx/nginx.conf  198.62 ms

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: v0.6: The current Kraftfile specification version is 0.6.

runtime: nginx:latest: The nginx kernel to use.

rootfs: ./Dockerfile: Build the app root filesystem using the Dockerfile.

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).