How to Deploy a SolidJS / SolidStart App

Two Solid apps, two deploy shapes

Solid comes in two flavors that deploy very differently:

• SolidJS (with Vite) builds to a static SPA — HTML, CSS, JS files. Deploy it as a static site; it's free and globally fast.
• SolidStart is the full-stack meta-framework with SSR, server functions, and API routes. It needs a running server, so deploy it as a container.

Knowing which you have determines everything. Let's cover both.

Path A: SolidJS SPA as a static site

A Vite-based Solid app builds to a dist/ folder:

// package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "vite build",
    "preview": "vite preview"
  }
}

npm run build   # outputs to dist/

Deploy as a PandaStack static site. The platform auto-detects the Vite framework, runs vite build, and serves dist/. Static builds run in pandastack.ai microVMs, and the output is served globally. Static sites are unlimited on Pro and Premium, and the free tier includes 5 static sites — so a Solid SPA can be hosted at $0/mo.

SPA routing fallback

Client-side routing (solid-router) needs all unknown paths to serve index.html, or deep links 404. For a static SPA this is the standard SPA fallback — configure your routes to rewrite to index.html. Most static hosting (PandaStack included) supports an SPA fallback for exactly this.

Path B: SolidStart SSR as a container

SolidStart uses Vinxi/Nitro under the hood and can target a Node server. Set the Node preset:

// app.config.js
import { defineConfig } from '@solidjs/start/config';

export default defineConfig({
  server: { preset: 'node-server' },
});

Build produces a server bundle you run with Node:

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "vinxi build",
    "start": "node .output/server/index.mjs"
  }
}

The Nitro Node output reads the PORT env var automatically, so it binds to the platform's injected port without changes.

FROM node:20.18-slim AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

FROM node:20.18-slim
WORKDIR /app
ENV NODE_ENV=production
COPY --from=build /app/.output ./.output
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", ".output/server/index.mjs"]

Or skip the Dockerfile — PandaStack auto-detects Node and the build/start commands.

Step: Add data with a managed database

SolidStart server functions can talk to a database. Attach a managed PostgreSQL and read the injected DATABASE_URL inside a server-only module:

// db.server.ts
import postgres from 'postgres';
export const sql = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);

Use it inside a "use server" function or a route's server handler so it never ships to the client.

Step: Deploy

Connect your repo and push:

git push origin main

For the SPA path, the static build runs and deploys to the global edge. For the SSR path, the build runs in a rootless BuildKit K8s Job pod, ships to Artifact Registry, and Helm-deploys. Either way you get live build logs, a custom domain, and automatic SSL.

Which should you choose?

If you don't need SSR or server functions, the SPA path is simpler and free. Reach for SolidStart when you need server-side rendering, server functions, or co-located data access.

References

• [SolidStart — deployment](https://docs.solidjs.com/solid-start/getting-started)
• [SolidStart configuration & presets](https://docs.solidjs.com/solid-start/reference/config/define-config)
• [Vite — static deploy](https://vite.dev/guide/static-deploy)
• [Nitro deployment presets](https://nitro.build/deploy)

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Solid scales from a free static SPA to a full SSR app without changing frameworks. Host the SPA free or run SolidStart as a container with an auto-wired Postgres — start on PandaStack's [free tier](https://dashboard.pandastack.io) and pick the path that fits.