Deploying Scala & React Apps to Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a cost-effective way to host small applications. While it typically supports PHP/MySQL out of the box, deploying Java/Scala apps requires a bit more work (or a VPS).

Frontend Deployment

Deploying the React frontend is straightforward since it's just static files.

1. Build the project:

   cd expense-tracker-ui
   npm run build

2. Upload files: Copy the contents of the dist folder to your public_html directory using FTP or a File Manager.

3. Configure Routing: Create a .htaccess file to handle client-side routing:

   <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
     RewriteEngine On
     RewriteBase /
     RewriteRule ^index\.html$ - [L]
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
     RewriteRule . /index.html [L]
   </IfModule>

Backend Deployment

For the Scala backend, you need a provider that supports Java or allows running long-lived processes (like a VPS). If you are on a strict shared host (cPanel), you might be limited.

1. Create a Distribution:

   cd expense-tracker-api
   sbt dist

2. Upload and Unzip: Upload the zip file from target/universal/ to your server and unzip it.

3. Run the Application:

   ./bin/expense-tracker-api -Dplay.http.secret.key='production-secret' -Dhttp.port=9000

4. Reverse Proxy: Configure Apache/Nginx to forward requests from api.yourdomain.com to localhost:9000.

Database

1. Create a MySQL database via your hosting control panel.
2. Update your application.conf (or pass env vars) with the production credentials.