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Self-Hosted Reverse Proxy Blueprint

Route, secure, and monitor all your services

Build a production reverse proxy from scratch in Node.js. Not an nginx tutorial — a custom proxy that gives you full control over routing, TLS, rate limiting, and observability for multi-app hosting on a single server.

// at a glance

▸ 35+ pages with complete, working code
▸ Based on a proxy currently routing 20+ subdomains in production
▸ Full TLS/SNI implementation — not just theory
▸ Includes rate limiting, ACME, and security hardening

// who this is for

Developers who host multiple apps on one server and want full control over their routing layer. You should know basic Node.js and understand HTTP.

// table of contents

Why Build Your Own

When nginx/Caddy isn't enough — the case for a programmable proxy

HTTP & HTTPS Servers

Node.js http/https modules, listening on 80/443, and the request lifecycle

Hostname Routing

Host header parsing, hostMap configuration, and subdomain-based routing

TLS & SNI

Server Name Indication, per-domain certificates, and the SNI callback pattern

Let's Encrypt Automation

ACME challenge handling, certbot integration, and automatic renewal

Path-Based Routing

Split architectures, API vs frontend routing, and WebSocket upgrades

Rate Limiting

Per-IP bucketing, endpoint-specific limits, and the sliding window pattern

Security Headers

HSTS, CSP, X-Frame-Options, and defense-in-depth at the proxy layer

Error Handling & Logging

502 pages, proxy timeouts, request logging, and debugging routing issues

Production Deployment

Systemd service, log rotation, zero-downtime restarts, and monitoring