Deploying Hi.Events

Hi.Events offers flexible deployment options for both cloud and self-hosted environments. Whether you’re looking for a quick setup or a fully customized configuration, this guide will help you get up and running.

Overview

Hi.Events consists of two main components:

• Frontend: A Node.js React application that handles the user interface
• Backend: A Laravel PHP application that powers the API and business logic

You can deploy these components either:

• Together using our all-in-one Docker image (simplest approach)
• Separately for better scalability and control (recommended for production)

Deployment Options

One-Click DeployDocker DeployManual Setup

One-Click Cloud Deployment

The fastest way to deploy Hi.Events is through our verified cloud partners:

💡

Production Considerations

While one-click deployments are convenient for getting started, production environments require careful configuration of:

• Server resources based on expected traffic
• Database size and performance
• Security settings and environment variables
• Proper file storage configuration

Environment Variables

To configure your Hi.Events deployment properly, you’ll need to set up several environment variables. These control everything from database connections to email delivery settings.

Frontend Variables

Backend Variables

Mail Configuration

You can use email providers like Postmark, SendGrid, or AWS SES.

For more details on configuring mail settings in Laravel, refer to the Laravel Mail Documentation.

Stripe Configuration

For more information on obtaining Stripe API keys, visit the Stripe API Keys Documentation.

Setting up the Stripe webhook

For Stripe to work correctly, you need to set up the webhook in your Stripe dashboard:

1. Go to https://dashboard.stripe.com/webhooks
2. Click “Add endpoint”
3. Set the webhook URL to: https://your-app.com/api/public/webhooks/stripe
4. You should listen for the following events:

• payment_intent.succeeded
• payment_intent.payment_failed
• charge.refund.updated (Deprecated, but you should still include it for compatibility)
• refund.updated
• account.update

General Configuration

Generate the APP_KEY using:

echo "base64:$(openssl rand -base64 32)"

SaaS Configuration

The SAAS fees are used to populate the account_configuration table. To adjust the fees after deployment you need to update the account_configuration table directly.

AWS Configuration

These variables are required if you’d like to use AWS S3 for file storage. You can also use other s3-compatible services like DigitalOcean Spaces.

Database Configuration

You can either set individual database configuration variables or use the DATABASE_URL to simplify the configuration.

Redis Configuration

Queue Configuration

Running the Scheduler

Hi.Events uses Laravel’s task scheduler for background tasks like scheduled messages and waitlist processing. If the scheduler isn’t running, these features won’t work.

The all-in-one Docker image (daveearley/hi.events-all-in-one) runs the scheduler automatically — no extra setup needed.

For separate image deployments or manual setups, you need to add a single cron entry on the server running your backend. This cron job calls Laravel’s schedule:run command every minute, and Laravel decides internally which scheduled tasks are due:

* * * * * cd /path-to-your-backend && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Replace /path-to-your-backend with the actual path to your Hi.Events backend directory. If you’re running the backend in a Docker container, you can add this to the container’s crontab or run it via docker exec:

* * * * * docker exec your-backend-container php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

You can verify the scheduler is working by running php artisan schedule:list — this shows all registered scheduled tasks and when they’re next due.

For more details on Laravel’s scheduler (daemon mode, running without cron, etc.), see the Laravel Scheduling documentation.

Important Deployment Considerations

If you’re planning to host events that might experience sudden bursts of traffic (like popular ticket sales or flash sales), you’ll want to take extra precautions with your deployment: