Nginx reverse proxy and static serving

Nginx efficiently serves static files and proxies dynamic requests to upstream Node processes. Immutable hashed assets get long cache lifetimes; HTML entry points stay short-lived or uncached.

					server {
  listen 443 ssl;
  root /var/www/dist;

  location /assets/ {
    expires 1y;
    add_header Cache-Control "public, immutable";
    try_files $uri =404;
  }

  location /api/ {
    proxy_pass http://node_upstream;
    proxy_set_header Host $host;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
  }
}
				

Separate public file delivery from application logic — Nginx handles gzip/Brotli and TLS cheaper than Node for static bytes.

On interviews: explain `try_files` for SPAs; which headers must pass to Node for correct URL generation; why `proxy_pass` trailing slash changes path rewriting.

Common pitfalls: caching `index.html` aggressively; missing `X-Forwarded-Proto` breaking HTTPS redirects in apps; serving user uploads from the same root as build artifacts.

The trade-off is balancing simplicity, performance, safety, and operability — name which axis you optimized and what cost you accepted.

Checklist:

• Long cache only for fingerprinted static assets.
• Proxy API paths with trusted forwarding headers.
• Use upstream blocks for multiple Node instances.
• Keep uploads outside the deploy artifact tree.