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The Static preset serves files directly via nginx — ideal for HTML sites, single-page applications, documentation, and landing pages.

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What’s Included

ComponentVersionDetails
nginxLatest (Ubuntu 24.04)Web server, auto-starts on boot
gitLatestVersion control
SSHOpenSSHAccess via dedicated port
Pre-installed utilities: curl, wget, vim, htop, unzip.

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Directory Structure

/home/instapod/app/
├── index.html          # Default welcome page
└── (your files here)
  • App Root: /home/instapod/app
  • Public Root: /home/instapod/app (same — everything is public)
  • Port: 80 (nginx)
  • nginx config: /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

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Deploying Your Site

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Upload Files

# Upload a single file
instapods files upload my-site ./index.html

# Sync an entire directory
instapods files sync my-site --local ./dist

# Or use the deploy command (auto-detects preset)
instapods deploy my-site --local ./dist

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SCP

scp -P YOUR_PORT -r ./dist/* instapod@YOUR_HOST:/home/instapod/app/

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Git Clone (via Terminal)

instapods exec my-site -- git clone https://github.com/you/your-site /home/instapod/app

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Reloading

After updating files, reload nginx to pick up configuration changes: 
instapods pods reload my-site
For static files, nginx serves them directly — no reload is needed for simple HTML/CSS/JS changes. Only reload if you’ve modified the nginx configuration.

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Single-Page Applications (SPA)

The default nginx config uses try_files $uri $uri/ =404, which returns 404 for routes that don’t match a file. For SPAs with client-side routing (React Router, Vue Router, etc.), you need to redirect all requests to index.html. Connect via SSH or the web terminal and update the nginx config: 
sudo sed -i 's|try_files $uri $uri/ =404;|try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;|' /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx
This makes routes like /about or /dashboard serve your index.html, letting your JavaScript router handle them.

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Use Cases

  • Static HTML/CSS/JS websites
  • Single-page applications (React, Vue, Svelte builds)
  • Documentation sites (VitePress, Docusaurus output)
  • Landing pages and marketing sites
  • File hosting