How to access your Nginx application

Private internal access

Projects in Zerops represent a group of one or more services. Services can be of different types (runtime services, databases, message brokers, object storage, etc.). All services of the same project share a dedicated private network. To connect to a service within the same project, just use the service hostname and its internal port.

Connect from another project

To connect to a Nginx service from another Zerops project, you'll need to use public access since different projects don't share private networks.

To connect to your application with app hostname running on internal port 80, simply use http://app:80.

Info

Do not use https:// when communicating with Nginx from other runtime services in the same project. The internal communication is done over a private network and is isolated from other projects.

Use Nginx environment variables

Zerops creates default environment variables for each Nginx service to help you with connection within the same project. To avoid the need to copy the access parameters manually, use generated environment variables of the Nginx service.

Prefix the environment variable key

All services of the same project can reference environment variables from other services. To use an environment variable from one service in another service in the same project, you must prefix the environment variable key with the service hostname and underscore.

Example:

To access the API_TOKEN env variable of the app service, use app_API_TOKEN as the env variable key.

Read more about Nginx environment variables.

Private access via VPN

Start VPN connection

You can securely connect to your Nginx application from your local workspace via Zerops VPN. Zerops VPN client is included into zCLI, the Zerops command-line tool. To start a VPN connection to the selected Zerops project, follow these steps:

1. Install & setup zCLI
2. Start the Zerops VPN

Access Nginx application through VPN

Once the VPN session is established, you have the secured connection to the project's private network in Zerops. You can access all project services locally by using their hostname. The only difference is that no environment variables are available when connected through VPN. To connect to your Nginx application in Zerops set the hostname and internal port e.g. http://app:80

Info

Do not use https:// when communicating with Nginx over the VPN. The security is assured by the VPN. The internal communication is done over a private network and is isolated from other projects.

Connect via SSH

Use the ssh command to connect to your service via SSH.

Stop VPN connection

Stop the Zerops VPN in zCLI.

Public access

By default, your Nginx service is not publicly accessible. Zerops offers multiple ways to make your application available from the internet:

• Zerops subdomain - Quick setup with .zerops.app subdomain, ideal for development and testing. Provides instant HTTPS access without DNS configuration.
• Custom domain - Production-ready access through your own domain with SSL management
• Direct port access - For non-HTTP protocols and specialized use cases

For detailed configuration steps and technical considerations, see the complete Domain & Access Configuration guide.