Building and Deploying a NestJS App on Akash Network

This guide walks you through setting up, containerizing, and deploying a NestJS application on Akash Network.

1. Build a NestJS App

Follow these steps to create and prepare your NestJS app:

Step 1.1: Create a New NestJS App

Ensure Node.js and npm are installed on your system.
Run the following commands:

    npm i -g @nestjs/cli
    nest new my-nestjs-app

Navigate into the project:

    cd my-nestjs-app

Step 1.2: Configure Your Application

Install any additional packages your app needs (e.g., npm install --save <package>).
Update the application logic in the appropriate directories (e.g., src/).

2. Containerize the App

To deploy the app on Akash, you need to containerize it using Docker.

Step 2.1: Create a `Dockerfile`

In the root of your NestJS app, create a Dockerfile:

# Base image
FROM node:18-alpine

# Set working directory
WORKDIR /app

# Copy package files and install dependencies
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install

# Copy the rest of the app
COPY . .

# Build the app
RUN npm run build

# Expose port 3000
EXPOSE 3000

# Command to start the app
CMD ["npm", "run", "start:prod"]

Step 2.2: Build and Test the Image

Build the Docker image:

docker build -t my-nestjs-app .

Run the image locally to test:

docker run -p 3000:3000 my-nestjs-app

Visit http://localhost:3000 to confirm your app works.

3. Deploy to Akash

Akash supports deployments via its CLI or Web Console. Below, you’ll find instructions for both, along with a sample deploy.yaml file.

Step 3.1: Prepare the Deployment File

Akash deployments require an SDL file (deploy.yaml). Below is a sample based template:

---
version: "2.0"

services:
  web:
    image: my-nestjs-app
    expose:
      - port: 3000
        as: 80
        to:
          - global: true

profiles:
  compute:
    web:
      resources:
        cpu:
          units: 0.5
        memory:
          size: 512Mi
        storage:
          size: 1Gi

  placement:
    westcoast:
      attributes:
        region: us-west
      signedBy:
        anyOf:
          - "akash1xxxxxx"
      pricing:
        web:
          denom: uakt
          amount: 1000

deployment:
  web:
    westcoast:
      profile: web
      count: 1

Replace my-nestjs-app with the name of your image in a public Docker registry (e.g., Docker Hub).

Step 3.2: Deploy Using Akash CLI

Install Akash CLI by following Akash CLI Installation Guideenticate your wallet by following Wallet Authentication .
- Create your Certificate

Akash requires an account to have a valid certificate associated with it to start participating in the deployment process. In this section of the guide, we will create a certificate locally, and then proceed to store this certificate on the Akash blockchain. To do this, ensure you have followed all the steps outlined in this guide up to this point. Additionally, these transactions must be executed from an Akash account in possession of some $AKT tokens.

Once an account has a certificate associated with it, it can begin deploying services on the Akash blockchain. A certificate needs to be created only once per account. After creation, it can be used across any number of deployments for as long as it remains valid.

provider-services tx cert generate client -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

Publish Cert to the Blockchain

provider-services tx cert publish client -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

Create your Deployment
CPU Support

Only x86_64 processors are officially supported for Akash deployments. This may change in the future and when ARM processors are supported it will be announced and documented.

Akash Deployment

NOTE - if your current terminal session has been used to create prior deployments, issue the command unset AKASH_DSEQ to prevent receipt of error message Deployment Exists

To deploy on Akash, run:

provider-services tx deployment create deploy.yaml -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

You should see a response similar to:

{
  "height":"140325",
  "txhash":"2AF4A01B9C3DE12CC4094A95E9D0474875DFE24FD088BB443238AC06E36D98EA",
  "codespace":"",
  "code":0,
  "data":"0A130A116372656174652D6465706C6F796D656E74",
  "raw_log":"[{\"events\":[{\"type\":\"akash.v1\",\"attributes\":[{\"key\":\"module\",\"value\":\"deployment\"},{\"key\":\"action\",\"value\":\"deployment-created\"},{\"key\":\"version\",\"value\":\"2b86f778de8cc9df415490efa162c58e7a0c297fbac9cdb8d6c6600eda56f17e\"},{\"key\":\"owner\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"dseq\",\"value\":\"140324\"},{\"key\":\"module\",\"value\":\"market\"},{\"key\":\"action\",\"value\":\"order-created\"},{\"key\":\"owner\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"dseq\",\"value\":\"140324\"},{\"key\":\"gseq\",\"value\":\"1\"},{\"key\":\"oseq\",\"value\":\"1\"}]},{\"type\":\"message\",\"attributes\":[{\"key\":\"action\",\"value\":\"create-deployment\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"}]},{\"type\":\"transfer\",\"attributes\":[{\"key\":\"recipient\",\"value\":\"akash17xpfvakm2amg962yls6f84z3kell8c5lazw8j8\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"amount\",\"value\":\"5000uakt\"},{\"key\":\"recipient\",\"value\":\"akash14pphss726thpwws3yc458hggufynm9x77l4l2u\"},{\"key\":\"sender\",\"value\":\"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj\"},{\"key\":\"amount\",\"value\":\"5000000uakt\"}]}]}]",
  "logs":[
    {
      "msg_index":0,
      "log":"",
      "events":[
        {
          "type":"akash.v1",
          "attributes":[
            {
              "key":"module",
              "value":"deployment"
            },
            {
              "key":"action",
              "value":"deployment-created"
            },
            {
              "key":"version",
              "value":"2b86f778de8cc9df415490efa162c58e7a0c297fbac9cdb8d6c6600eda56f17e"
            },
            {
              "key":"owner",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"dseq",
              "value":"140324"
            },
            {
              "key":"module",
              "value":"market"
            },
            {
              "key":"action",
              "value":"order-created"
            },
            {
              "key":"owner",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"dseq",
              "value":"140324"
            },
            {
              "key":"gseq",
              "value":"1"
            },
            {
              "key":"oseq",
              "value":"1"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type":"message",
          "attributes":[
            {
              "key":"action",
              "value":"create-deployment"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "type":"transfer",
          "attributes":[
            {
              "key":"recipient",
              "value":"akash17xpfvakm2amg962yls6f84z3kell8c5lazw8j8"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"amount",
              "value":"5000uakt"
            },
            {
              "key":"recipient",
              "value":"akash14pphss726thpwws3yc458hggufynm9x77l4l2u"
            },
            {
              "key":"sender",
              "value":"akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj"
            },
            {
              "key":"amount",
              "value":"5000000uakt"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "info":"",
  "gas_wanted":"100000",
  "gas_used":"94653",
  "tx":null,
  "timestamp":""
}

Find your Deployment -

Find the Deployment Sequence (DSEQ) in the deployment you just created. You will need to replace the AKASH_DSEQ with the number from your deployment to configure a shell variable.

export AKASH_DSEQ=CHANGETHIS

Now set the Order Sequence (OSEQ) and Group Sequence (GSEQ). Note that if this is your first time deploying on Akash, OSEQ and GSEQ will be 1.

AKASH_OSEQ=1
AKASH_GSEQ=1

Verify we have the right values populated by running:

echo $AKASH_DSEQ $AKASH_OSEQ $AKASH_GSEQ

View your Bids

After a short time, you should see bids from providers for this deployment with the following command:

provider-services query market bid list -owner=$AKASH_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS -node $AKASH_NODE -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -state=open

Choose a Provider

Note that there are bids from multiple different providers. In this case, both providers happen to be willing to accept a price of 1 uAKT. This means that the lease can be created using 1 uAKT or 0.000001 AKT per block to execute the container. You should see a response similar to:

bids:
- bid:
    bid_id:
      dseq: "140324"
      gseq: 1
      oseq: 1
      owner: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj
      provider: akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal
    created_at: "140326"
    price:
      amount: "1"
      denom: uakt
    state: open
  escrow_account:
    balance:
      amount: "50000000"
      denom: uakt
    id:
      scope: bid
      xid: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj/140324/1/1/akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal
    owner: akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal
    settled_at: "140326"
    state: open
    transferred:
      amount: "0"
      denom: uakt
- bid:
    bid_id:
      dseq: "140324"
      gseq: 1
      oseq: 1
      owner: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj
      provider: akash1f6gmtjpx4r8qda9nxjwq26fp5mcjyqmaq5m6j7
    created_at: "140326"
    price:
      amount: "1"
      denom: uakt
    state: open
  escrow_account:
    balance:
      amount: "50000000"
      denom: uakt
    id:
      scope: bid
      xid: akash1vn06ycjjnvsvl639fet9lajjctuturrtx7fvuj/140324/1/1/akash1f6gmtjpx4r8qda9nxjwq26fp5mcjyqmaq5m6j7
    owner: akash1f6gmtjpx4r8qda9nxjwq26fp5mcjyqmaq5m6j7
    settled_at: "140326"
    state: open
    transferred:
      amount: "0"
      denom: uakt

For this example, we will choose akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal Run this command to set the provider shell variable:

AKASH_PROVIDER=akash10cl5rm0cqnpj45knzakpa4cnvn5amzwp4lhcal

Verify we have the right value populated by running:

echo $AKASH_PROVIDER

Create a Lease

Create a lease for the bid from the chosen provider above by running this command:

provider-services tx market lease create -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

Confirm the Lease

You can check the status of your lease by running:

provider-services query market lease list -owner $AKASH_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS -node $AKASH_NODE -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ

Note the bids will close automatically after 5 minutes, and you may get the response:

bid not open

If this happens, close your deployment and open a new deployment again. To close your deployment run this command:

provider-services tx deployment close -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ  -owner $AKASH_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

If your lease was successful you should see a response that ends with:

    state: active

{/* {% hint style=“info” %} /} Please note that once the lease is created, the provider will begin debiting your deployment’s escrow account, even if you have not completed the deployment process by uploading the manifest in the following step. {/ {% endhint %} */}

Send the Manifest

Upload the manifest using the values from above step:

provider-services send-manifest deploy.yaml -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

Confirm the URL

Now that the manifest is uploaded, your image is deployed. You can retrieve the access details by running the below:

provider-services lease-status -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER

You should see a response similar to:

{
  "services": {
    "web": {
      "name": "web",
      "available": 1,
      "total": 1,
      "uris": [
        "rga3h05jetf9h3p6dbk62m19ck.ingress.ewr1p0.mainnet.akashian.io"
      ],
      "observed_generation": 1,
      "replicas": 1,
      "updated_replicas": 1,
      "ready_replicas": 1,
      "available_replicas": 1
    }
  },
  "forwarded_ports": {}
}

You can access the application by visiting the hostnames mapped to your deployment. Look for a URL/URI and copy it to your web browser.

View your logs

You can view your application logs to debug issues or watch progress like so:

provider-services lease-logs \
  -dseq "$AKASH_DSEQ" \
  -provider "$AKASH_PROVIDER" \
  -from "$AKASH_KEY_NAME"

Update the Deployment
Update the Manifest

Update the deploy.yaml manifest file with the desired change.

NOTE:** Not all attributes of the manifest file are eligible for deployment update. If the hardware specs of the manifest are updated (I.e. CPU count), a re-deployment of the workload is necessary. Other attributes, such as deployment image and funding, are eligible for updates.

Issue Transaction for On Chain Update

provider-services tx deployment update deploy.yaml -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

Send Updated Manifest to Provider

provider-services send-manifest deploy.yaml -dseq $AKASH_DSEQ -provider $AKASH_PROVIDER -from $AKASH_KEY_NAME

Step 3.3: Deploy Using Akash Web Console

If you prefer a GUI, use the Akash Console.

Access the console at console.akash.network.
Login with your wallet.
Follow the Console Deployment Guide to upload your deploy.yaml file to complete the process.

4. Monitor and Access Your App

After deployment:

1. Use the Akash CLI or Console to monitor the status of your deployment.
2. Retrieve the app's external URL or IP from the deployment details.
3. Access your app via a browser or API client.