Node.js Tor Hosting — JavaScript Applications on .onion

Our Node.js Tor hosting provides a production-ready environment with Node.js LTS (currently v22) pre-installed alongside npm and yarn package managers. PM2 manages your application processes with automatic restart on crash, cluster mode for utilizing multiple CPU cores, and log management. Nginx sits in front as a reverse proxy, handling TLS termination and static file serving.

The environment is configured so that npm packages are installed through Tor, preventing your server from making clearnet connections during dependency resolution. We maintain a Tor-accessible npm registry proxy that caches frequently used packages locally, reducing install times and eliminating repeated downloads over the Tor network.

For developers using TypeScript, we pre-install ts-node and support TypeScript compilation as part of the deployment process. ESM modules, CommonJS, and mixed module projects are all supported. Your development workflow stays the same — the only difference is that your application serves traffic through a .onion address instead of a clearnet domain.

Deploy your Node.js application by pushing to our Tor-accessible Git repository. A post-receive hook runs npm install, builds your project, and restarts PM2 — all automatically. You can customize the deployment script to run tests, database migrations, or any other pre-deployment steps. Failed deployments automatically roll back to the previous working version.

For more sophisticated workflows, our API supports webhook-triggered deployments that you can integrate with any CI/CD system that can make HTTP requests over Tor. Build and test your code in your existing pipeline, then trigger deployment to your .onion hosting via a single API call. Deployment status is returned synchronously, so your pipeline knows immediately if deployment succeeded.

We also support Docker-based Node.js deployments for teams that prefer containerized workflows. Provide a Dockerfile, and we build and deploy your container on our infrastructure. Docker Compose is supported for multi-container applications that include databases, caches, or background workers alongside your Node.js application.

Node.js excels at real-time applications, and these work well over Tor. WebSocket connections are fully supported through our Nginx reverse proxy, enabling chat applications, live dashboards, collaborative editors, and notification systems on your .onion site. Socket.IO, ws, and other WebSocket libraries work without modification.

Tor's onion routing adds latency to WebSocket connections, but for many real-time use cases this is acceptable. Chat messages, document edits, and notification deliveries typically tolerate 1-3 seconds of additional latency without impacting user experience. For applications where latency is critical, we optimize Tor circuit settings to minimize round-trip times.

Server-Sent Events (SSE) are another excellent option for real-time updates on Tor. SSE uses a single persistent HTTP connection to push updates from server to client, which works efficiently with Tor's circuit model. For one-way data flows like live feeds, status updates, or monitoring dashboards, SSE provides a simpler and more reliable alternative to WebSockets.

Node.js applications typically require a database. Our hosting supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, and Redis, all pre-configured for local access only. ORM libraries including Prisma, Sequelize, TypeORM, and Mongoose work without modification. Database connections use Unix sockets for maximum performance and security.

For applications that need file storage, we provide a local filesystem with NVMe-backed storage. If your application handles file uploads, files are stored locally and served through Nginx. For larger storage requirements, we offer additional NVMe volumes that can be mounted at any path in your application's filesystem.

Background job processing is supported through libraries like Bull, BullMQ, and Agenda. Redis is available for job queues, session storage, and caching. Scheduled tasks can be configured through PM2's cron-like scheduling or through the system crontab. These background processes run continuously alongside your main application, all accessible only through Tor.