Using NginxConfig to Visually Generate and Deploy Nginx Configurations for Static and API Sites

Nginx is a widely used web server, but its configuration can be cumbersome; the open‑source visual tool NginxConfig simplifies this process by allowing users to generate Nginx configurations through a graphical interface. NginxConfig claims to be the only Nginx configuration tool you need and already has over 15K stars on GitHub, indicating strong community support.

Installation – Node.js : Download the Node.js package from the official site, extract it to /usr/local/src/, and create symbolic links for node and npm so they are available system‑wide.

cd /usr/local/src/
tar xf node-v16.14.2-linux-x64.tar.xz
cd node-v16.14.2-linux-x64/
./bin/node -v
ln -s /usr/local/src/node-v16.14.2-linux-x64/bin/node /usr/bin/node
ln -s /usr/local/src/node-v16.14.2-linux-x64/bin/npm /usr/bin/npm
node -v
npm -v

Installation – NginxConfig : Clone or download the NginxConfig package from its GitHub repository, extract it, install dependencies with npm install, and start the development server with npm run dev.

tar -zxvf nginxconfig.io-master.tar.gz
npm install
npm run dev

Usage preparation : Ensure Nginx is installed, then add the following entries to the local /etc/hosts file so the three domains resolve to the server IP:

192.168.3.105 docs.macrozheng.com
192.168.3.105 mall.macrozheng.com
192.168.3.105 api.macrozheng.com

Documentation site configuration : In NginxConfig, select the "frontend" preset, modify the service settings to point to the documentation root, disable the Content‑Security‑Policy, enable Gzip compression, and remove resource‑expiry limits.

Front‑end site configuration : Add a second site with similar settings, adjusting the server name and root directory to serve the Mall front‑end application.

API site configuration : Add a third site, enable reverse proxy, and point it to the online SpringBoot API endpoint, optionally disabling the routing feature.

Generate configuration : Click the download button in the UI, rename the resulting archive, extract it on the Linux server, and copy the generated files into Nginx’s html directory. tar -zxvf nginxconfig.io.tar.gz Restart Nginx to apply the new configuration: docker restart nginx Verify the deployment by visiting the three URLs:

Documentation site: http://docs.macrozheng.com

Front‑end site: http://mall.macrozheng.com

API documentation: http://api.macrozheng.com/swagger-ui.html

Conclusion : The hands‑on experience shows that NginxConfig can generate high‑performance, secure Nginx configurations without manual editing, making it a convenient tool for developers and operations engineers.

Project repository: https://github.com/digitalocean/nginxconfig.io