nginx-domain-manager

A one-command CLI tool (ndm) to manage Nginx reverse proxy domains, SSL certificates, and application ports on Linux servers.

Features

• Interactive domain setup with prompts
• Automatic SSL via Certbot (Let's Encrypt)
• Firewall configuration (ufw / firewalld)
• Safe operations — always runs nginx -t before reloading, rolls back on failure
• Persistent metadata stored in /var/lib/ndm/domains.json
• System health check with auto-repair (ndm doctor --fix)
• One-command VPS bootstrap (ndm bootstrap)

Supported Operating Systems

| OS | Package Manager | |----|----------------| | Ubuntu | apt | | Debian | apt | | Fedora | dnf | | CentOS / RHEL | yum |

Installation

npm install -g nginx-domain-manager

All privileged commands must be run with sudo.

Commands

ndm create

Interactively set up a new reverse proxy domain.

sudo ndm create

Prompts for: domain, www subdomain, app port, SSL, email.

ndm remove <domain>

Remove a domain configuration.

sudo ndm remove example.com

Optionally revokes the SSL certificate.

ndm update-port <domain> <port>

Update the application port for a domain.

sudo ndm update-port example.com 5400

ndm status <domain>

Show detailed status for a domain.

ndm status example.com

Output includes: port, SSL status, nginx service status, certificate expiry.

ndm list

List all managed domains in a table.

ndm list

DOMAIN                           PORT    SSL     CREATED
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
example.com                      3000    Yes     2026-05-31
api.example.com                  8080    No      2026-05-31

ndm doctor

Check system health — nginx, certbot, firewall, ports.

ndm doctor
sudo ndm doctor --fix   # auto-repair issues

ndm bootstrap

Prepare a fresh VPS by installing all dependencies.

sudo ndm bootstrap

Installs: nginx, certbot, python3-certbot-nginx, curl, git. Enables nginx and configures the firewall.

ndm ssl-renew

Renew all SSL certificates.

sudo ndm ssl-renew
sudo ndm ssl-renew --dry-run   # test without changes

Examples

Full domain setup

sudo ndm bootstrap          # first time VPS setup
sudo ndm create             # follow the prompts
ndm list                    # verify
ndm status example.com      # check status

Migrate app to a new port

sudo ndm update-port example.com 4000

Clean up a domain

sudo ndm remove example.com

Metadata Storage

All domain configs are stored at /var/lib/ndm/domains.json:

{
  "example.com": {
    "port": 3000,
    "ssl": true,
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "includeWww": true,
    "createdAt": "2026-05-31"
  }
}

Environment Variables

| Variable | Effect | |----------|--------| | NDM_DEBUG=1 | Enable verbose debug logging |

Troubleshooting

"Please run this command with sudo."
All write operations require root. Prefix the command with sudo.

Nginx config test fails after SSL
Run sudo nginx -t to see the error. If certbot modified the config incorrectly, check /etc/nginx/sites-available/<domain>.

certbot not found
Run sudo ndm bootstrap or sudo ndm doctor --fix.

Port already in use
Check what's running: ss -tlnp | grep :PORT. Update with ndm update-port.

Architecture

src/
├── commands/    # Commander.js command handlers (one file per command)
├── services/    # Core business logic (nginx, certbot, firewall, storage, system)
├── utils/       # Shared helpers (logger, validator, permissions)
└── index.ts     # CLI entry point

Development

git clone https://github.com/your-org/nginx-domain-manager.git
cd nginx-domain-manager
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Roadmap

• [ ] Multi-server management via SSH
• [ ] ndm backup — export all configs
• [ ] ndm restore — import configs from backup
• [ ] Web dashboard (optional)
• [ ] ndm logs <domain> — tail nginx access/error logs
• [ ] Slack/webhook notifications for certificate expiry

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT