{"id":1042,"date":"2026-05-22T13:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/installing-node-js-on-a-ultra-cloud-server\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:15:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:15:48","slug":"installing-node-js-on-a-ultra-cloud-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/installing-node-js-on-a-ultra-cloud-server\/","title":{"rendered":"Installing Node.js on a ULTRA Cloud server"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>ULTRA Cloud Panel makes it straightforward to install Node.js on your managed server without needing shell access. This guide walks through choosing the application type and selecting the version of Node.js you want to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Before you begin<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You will need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Access to the ULTRA Cloud Panel for the server hosting your site.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The site or subdomain you want Node.js installed against (for example <code>example.com<\/code> or <code>app.example.com<\/code>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Node.js major version your application requires (for example 16, 18 or 20). If you are not sure, check your application&#8217;s <code>package.json<\/code> <code>engines<\/code> field or the project&#8217;s documentation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 1: Open the site&#8217;s Application settings in Scout<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the ULTRA Cloud Panel, navigate to the site you want to configure and open its <strong>Application settings<\/strong>. By default, sites are set to a standard web application type such as WordPress. To run a Node.js application you will change this to <strong>Node.js<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 2: Select Node.js from the application drop-down<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>From the <strong>Application<\/strong> drop-down menu, choose <strong>Node.js<\/strong>. Scout supports a range of modern application types in this menu, including Node.js and Next.js, which streamline the installation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kb.freethought.group\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/scout-app-dropdown-nodejs.jpg\" alt=\"Scout application dropdown menu showing Node.js as an installable application option\" class=\"wp-image-5238\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Selecting <strong>Node.js<\/strong> from the Scout Application drop-down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 3: Choose the Node.js version<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After selecting Node.js, you will be prompted to choose the version. Pick the major version your application supports. Common choices include Node.js 16, 18 and 20. If your application only supports an older release, install that version; you can upgrade later by repeating these steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Step 4: Save and wait for the install to complete<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Save the application settings. Scout will install the selected Node.js version on the server and configure the site to use it. The installation typically takes only a few minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Verifying the installation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the install has finished, you can verify Node.js is available by SSHing in to the server as your site user and running:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>node -v\nnpm -v<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p>Both commands should report a version number matching the release you selected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changing the Node.js version later<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To switch to a different Node.js version, navigate to Server > Settings > Software. It is also possible to install Node.js from here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"254\" src=\"https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2-1024x254.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1045\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2-1024x254.png 1024w, https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2-300x74.png 300w, https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2-768x190.png 768w, https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2-1536x380.png 1536w, https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2-770x191.png 770w, https:\/\/kb.freethought.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/05\/image-2.png 1607w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Need a different application type?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your application is not Node.js but still needs a custom runtime, for example a Docker container&#8230; See our companion guide on installing Docker via the command line and proxying a Scout site to a container.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Step-by-step guide to installing Node.js on a Scout-managed server using the Application drop-down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-control-panel","category-advanced-techniques"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1046,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freethought.uk\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}