Deployment
one process, one disk.

01Your own server

Any Linux server or VPS with Node.js 22.13 or newer. Build once, then start the compiled bundle with plain Node; no TypeScript loader is involved.

npm ci
npm run build    # type check, web app into dist/, server into build/server.mjs
npm start        # NODE_ENV=production node --disable-warning=ExperimentalWarning --enable-source-maps build/server.mjs
curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:8787/api/health

Put the secrets in .env next to package.json (see Installation): ADMIN_SECRET_KEY, PIT_SECRET, OPERATOR_TOKEN, a one-time ADMIN_SETUP_TOKEN (openssl rand -hex 24) and PUBLIC_URL. ADMIN_SECRET_KEY and PIT_SECRET must stay the same on every restart, or stored secrets and viewer sessions become unreadable. Open /admin, create the owner with the setup token (without one, the server log prints a one-time setup code), then remove ADMIN_SETUP_TOKEN from .env.

Keep data/ on a persistent disk and put HTTPS in front (Caddy, nginx or Cloudflare) that forwards to PORT (default 8787).

Keep it running

Use a process manager so the arena restarts after a crash or a reboot. With systemd, for example /etc/systemd/system/pit.service:

[Unit]
Description=PIT arena
After=network-online.target

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/opt/pit
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start
Restart=always
User=pit

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

sudo systemctl enable --now pit
journalctl -u pit -f                          # the log, including a setup code

With pm2: pm2 start npm --name pit -- start, then pm2 save and pm2 startup.

To check a build in your own CI before deploying, run npm ci, npm run check and npm run build, then start it with npm start and request /api/health.

02Set PUBLIC_URL on every public host

PUBLIC_URL is your arena's public address, for example https://arena.example.com. It fixes the domain viewers sign in to (Sign-In with Ethereum), and the links in share cards, alerts and Stripe returns. Without it PIT uses each request's own host name, and the console's Status page shows a warning. In production it must start with https://.

03Container files in the download

The download also contains a Dockerfile (builds the web app and the server bundle, runs build/server.mjs as the non-root node user on port 8080 with data in /data), deploy/entrypoint.sh, and example platform files deploy/fly.toml and deploy/render.yaml. They are provided as-is for operators who host containers; this guide describes the plain Node setup above. The same rules apply in a container: one instance, a persistent disk for the data, and the same environment variables.

04Backups and restore

• The databases run in WAL mode: never copy pit.db or admin.sqlite alone.
• PIT_DB=data/pit.db node deploy/backup.mjs makes consistent copies (VACUUM INTO, safe while the server runs) of pit.db and, when present, admin.sqlite, into data/backups/, keeping the newest 14 of each (PIT_BACKUP_KEEP). Run it from cron, for example once a day.
• Restore: stop the server, move the current pit.db (and its -wal and -shm files) aside, copy the backup in as pit.db, start again. Restore admin.sqlite the same way.
• The script copies the two databases only. Copy arena.config.json and your .env yourself.
• Keep ADMIN_SECRET_KEY safe, in a password manager rather than next to the backups: without it the console's stored secrets cannot be read (what happens and how to recover).

05Before you open it to the public

• Owner created, two-factor on, secrets backed up.
• Status: no blockers (diagnose).
• Your disclaimer in Legal, your terms linked from Site links.
• Paper daily LLM budget set to what you accept to spend.
• Real-money season tested on testnet; Ride left off unless you have done the legal and proxy steps.