A Raspberry Pi can be turned into a lightweight development server that the team can access remotely, giving developers more control over hardware, deployments, and a consistent environment. The setup typically involves installing a Raspberry Pi–friendly Linux OS, configuring secure remote access, adding a web server, and deploying a full-stack application behind a reverse proxy.
A basic hardware kit is enough to begin. Along with the Raspberry Pi board, the setup usually requires a power adapter, an Ethernet cable for stable connectivity, and a microSD card (commonly 8GB or more) to host the operating system and software. A keyboard, monitor, and HDMI cable can help during the first boot, but they are optional if the device is configured headlessly via SSH.
The first major step is installing the operating system on the microSD card and booting the Pi. After startup, the device should be configured using the standard configuration utility so the filesystem can be expanded and the default password can be changed. This is a critical security step because many Raspberry Pi installations begin with widely known default credentials. Once configured, the Pi can be managed from another machine using SSH after locating its internal IP address on the local network.
With the base OS ready, a web server can be installed to handle incoming HTTP traffic. Many developers choose Nginx because it is efficient and works well as a reverse proxy for application servers. After installing it and starting the service, the Pi’s IP address can be opened in a browser to confirm the web server is running.
If remote access from outside the home or office network is required, the next step is configuring router-level access. This is typically done through port forwarding so that inbound traffic on specific ports is routed to the Pi’s internal IP—commonly forwarding HTTP traffic to port 80 and SSH traffic to port 22. Because exposing ports increases the attack surface, security basics (strong credentials, careful access control, and least privilege) should be treated as mandatory. If the network does not have a static public IP, dynamic DNS can be used to make the server reachable using a consistent hostname.
After connectivity is in place, the application stack can be installed. A common approach is to run a full-stack JavaScript application by installing Node.js and a database such as MongoDB. Node is used to run the application server, while the database supports persistence for application data. Operationally, services like databases should be stopped cleanly before power-offs to reduce the risk of corruption.
For deployment, the application code can be developed locally and pushed to a version-controlled repository, then pulled onto the Raspberry Pi. A production build can be created and deployed to a dedicated folder (often under a web root directory), dependencies installed, and the Node server started in production mode. To ensure the app is reachable through standard web ports, Nginx can be configured as a reverse proxy so that requests on port 80 are forwarded to the Node app’s internal listening port (for example, 8080).
To complete the setup, the Nginx site configuration is enabled and the service reloaded. If a custom hostname is being used for local convenience, it can be mapped to the Pi’s external IP on the client machine using the local hosts file. Finally, a process manager can be added so Node services stay alive across disconnects and restarts, keeping the server reliable for daily development use.
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