# Migrate AWS EC2 app: Next.js

## Summary

Move Next.js compute from AWS EC2 app to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: the app built, started and answered on its public HTTPS URL with encrypted configuration delivered. Source procedure: Collect the process environment from the instance (systemd unit or process manager config) into an env file kept out of the repository. Not migrated automatically: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead. Cutover: Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the instance or load balancer, keep the instance until verified, then stop it. Rollback: keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

## Infrastructure requirements

- Compute: verified (Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.)
- Postgres: verified (Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.)

## Prerequisites

- Authorized access to the AWS EC2 app source and its export tooling
- An inventory of every component in scope and out of scope
- A validated backup or copy before any cutover
- An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read

## Exact tested configuration

- template: `node-22`
- runtime: `node`
- size: `s-1vcpu-1gb`
- install: `npm install`
- build: `npm run build --if-present`
- start: `npm run start`

## Steps

1. **Inventory the source.** List what AWS EC2 app provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead.
2. **Source step 1.** Collect the process environment from the instance (systemd unit or process manager config) into an env file kept out of the repository.
3. **Source step 2.** Replace the instance's process manager with the repository's start command; Ample supervises the process and restarts it.
4. **Source step 3.** Inventory what else runs on the instance: databases, cron, reverse proxy rules, local files.
5. **Deploy on Ample in parallel.** next build then next start -H 0.0.0.0 -p $PORT on the node-22 template. Pass the exported variables with --env; keep the source running.
   
   ```
   ample deploy . --name <app-name> --public --env-file .env.production
   ```
6. **Validate before cutover.** Run the app's own checks and, for data, compare counts and checksums; the example checks are the pattern self-tests (/p/configuration-secrets, /p/relational-records).
7. **Cut over.** Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the instance or load balancer, keep the instance until verified, then stop it.
8. **Rollback.** Point DNS or configuration back to the source. The source was never modified; deletion is a separate, user-executed step after validation.

## Tested examples

- **Next.js pattern fixture (destination)** (tests/deploy-canaries/next-js-patterns): Verified destination basis: Next.js compute.

## Success checks

- destination app responds on its public URL (`/` on the live URL, expect ample canary next js patterns)
- configuration-secrets check from the destination example (`/p/configuration-secrets` on the live URL, expect see the pattern fixture checks)
- relational-records check from the destination example (`/p/relational-records` on the live URL, expect see the pattern fixture checks)
- data or object counts and checksums match the source

## Limitations

- Documentation only: nothing is executed automatically and no execution binding is offered.
- The source-side procedure is documented from AWS EC2 app's standard tooling and was not executed in this catalog's evidence; the destination side was verified with the pattern fixture.
- No full source-product parity is claimed: Cron jobs, local files on the instance disk, security-group networking and IAM instance roles are not migrated; use managed databases, buckets and encrypted env instead.
- Verified on the node-22 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; region, compliance and request-duration limits are unknown.
- Managed PostgreSQL 16 only; extensions, connection limits and backup or restore procedures on the managed side are not verified beyond the pattern checks.