Deploy Strapi on Oracle Cloud's free tier

At a glance

Running Strapi on Ampere ARM

Strapi's admin build is the heaviest step — give it at least 2 OCPU and 4 GB during build. sharp/vips needs the build tools shown above on Alpine ARM64.

Steps

1. Use Postgres, not SQLite. SQLite is fine locally but a poor fit for a container you redeploy often.
2. Set the app keys. APP_KEYS, API_TOKEN_SALT, ADMIN_JWT_SECRET and JWT_SECRET must be stable across deploys or every session and token is invalidated.
3. Persist uploads. Mount /app/public/uploads or push media to Oracle Object Storage.

Dockerfile for Strapi on ARM64

FROM node:22-alpine
WORKDIR /app
RUN apk add --no-cache vips-dev build-base
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
ENV NODE_ENV=production
RUN npm run build
EXPOSE 1337
CMD ["npm", "run", "start"]

Need one tailored to your repository? The free Dockerfile generator writes an ARM-ready multi-stage build for you.

Common mistakes

• Admin build OOM: A 1 GB micro instance cannot build the Strapi admin panel. Use the ARM shape.
• Rotating secrets: Regenerated JWT secrets log every admin out and invalidate API tokens.
• Uploads on ephemeral storage: Media disappears on redeploy without a volume.

Related reading

• /guides/self-host-docker
• /tools/dockerfile-generator
• /oracle-cloud/always-free-arm
• All deployment guides