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This guide covers setting up Inbox Zero on AWS EC2 with an Application Load Balancer. Note: This is a reference implementation. There are many ways to deploy on AWS (ECS, EKS, Elastic Beanstalk, etc.). Use what works best for your infrastructure and expertise.

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1. Launch Instance

  1. Go to EC2 Console and click Launch Instances.
  2. Name: inbox-zero (or whatever you like)
  3. OS / AMI:
    • Select Amazon Linux 2023 (Kernel 6.1 LTS).
  4. Instance Type:
    • Test: t2.micro or t3.micro (Free Tier, 1GB RAM).
      • Warning: You must set up swap memory (see below) or the app will crash.
    • Production: t3.medium (4GB RAM) or larger is recommended to avoid OOM kills.
  5. Key Pair:
    • Create a new key pair if you don’t have one.
    • Name: e.g., inbox-zero.
    • Type: RSA, .pem format.
    • Permissions: Run chmod 400 ~/.ssh/your-key.pem immediately after downloading.
  6. Network Settings:
    • Allow SSH traffic from Anywhere (or My IP if you have a static IP).
      • Note: Using “Anywhere” is acceptable for test servers since you’re using key-based authentication. For production, consider restricting to your office IP or VPN.
    • Allow HTTP/HTTPS traffic from the internet.
  7. Storage: Default (8GB) is usually fine for testing, but 20GB is safer for Docker images + logs.

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2. Post-Launch Setup

EC2 public IPs change if you stop/start the instance. For a stable address:
  1. Go to Network & Security -> Elastic IPs.
  2. Click Allocate Elastic IP address.
  3. Select the IP -> Actions -> Associate Elastic IP address.
  4. Select your instance and associate.

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SSH Config

Add the server to your local ~/.ssh/config to avoid typing long IPs. 
Host inbox-zero-test
    HostName <YOUR_ELASTIC_IP>
    User ec2-user
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/inbox-zero.pem
Connect with: ssh inbox-zero-test

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Essential Server Setup (Amazon Linux 2023)

Once logged in, run these commands to prepare the server.

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1. Update & Install Required Tools

sudo dnf update -y
sudo dnf install docker git -y
sudo service docker start
sudo usermod -a -G docker ec2-user
# You must log out and log back in for group changes to take effect
exit

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2. Install Node.js (Required if using setup CLI)

After logging back in, install Node.js: Note: this is only needed if you want to run the setup CLI: 
curl -fsSL https://rpm.nodesource.com/setup_lts.x | sudo bash -
sudo dnf install -y nodejs

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3. Install Docker Compose

mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
curl -SL "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
# Verify it works
docker compose version

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4. Setup Swap Memory (CRITICAL for Micro Instances)

If you are using a t2.micro or t3.micro (1GB RAM), you MUST add swap or the build/runtime will crash. 
# Create a 4GB swap file
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=128M count=32
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
echo '/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

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3. SSL/HTTPS Setup

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Application Load Balancer (ALB)

You can also use nginx or any approach of your choice.
  1. Request SSL Certificate (AWS Certificate Manager):
    • Go to AWS Certificate Manager console
    • Click Request certificate → Request a public certificate
    • Enter your domain name (e.g., app.yourdomain.com)
    • Choose DNS validation (easier) or Email validation
    • Follow validation steps: AWS will provide a CNAME record to add to your DNS. Once added, the certificate will be issued in 5-10 minutes.
    • Wait for certificate status to show Issued
  2. Create Target Group:
    • Go to EC2 Console → Target Groups → Create target group
    • Name: e.g., inbox-zero-web
    • Target type: Instances
    • Protocol: HTTP, Port: 3000
    • Health check path: /api/health
    • Click Next, select your EC2 instance, click Include as pending below, then Next, then Create target group
  3. Create Application Load Balancer:
    • Go to EC2 Console → Load Balancers → Create load balancer
    • Choose Application Load Balancer
    • Name: inbox-zero-alb
    • Scheme: Internet-facing
    • IP address type: IPv4
    • Network mapping: Select at least 2 availability zones
    • Security groups: Create/select one that allows HTTP (80) and HTTPS (443) from anywhere
    • Listeners:
      • Add listener: HTTPS (443) → Forward to your target group
      • (Optional) Add listener: HTTP (80) → Redirect to HTTPS
    • Secure listener settings: Select your ACM certificate
    • Click Create load balancer
  4. Update DNS:
    • Wait for the ALB to finish provisioning (status: Active, takes 2-5 minutes)
    • Find the ALB DNS name in EC2 Console → Load Balancers → click your ALB → copy the DNS name
    • In your DNS provider, create a CNAME record:
      • Name: Your domain/subdomain (e.g., test for test.yourdomain.com or @ for root domain)
      • Target: <ALB-DNS-name> (e.g., inbox-zero-alb-123456789.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com)
      • Proxy status: DNS only (if using Cloudflare DNS)
  5. Update Security Group:
    • Your EC2 instance security group should allow traffic from the ALB security group on port 3000
    • Add a new port 3000 rule with source set to the ALB’s security group (find it in ALB → Security tab)
    • This allows only the ALB to access your app on port 3000, not the public internet

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4. Deployment

Once your EC2 instance is set up with Docker, swap memory, and HTTPS, follow the deployment steps in the Self-Hosting Guide.