Deploy FastAPI Async App on Hostinger VPS with Nginx, Gunicorn, Uvicorn & HTTPS

If you're a Python backend developer exploring FastAPI, you've probably enjoyed its speed and simplicity. But deploying a FastAPI app for production can seem overwhelming — especially when you want scalability, security, and performance.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through deploying your FastAPI async app on a Hostinger VPS using Ubuntu, Gunicorn + Uvicorn, Nginx, and Let's Encrypt SSL. This setup ensures your API is secure, production-ready, and blazing fast.

Why Hostinger?
Before we dive into the technicals — I highly recommend using a Hostinger VPS for your deployment needs. It’s affordable, developer-friendly, and comes with full root access.

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Step 1: Install System Packages
SSH into your VPS and install necessary packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nginx python3 python3.12-venv git

 Step 2: Setup SSH Deploy Key for GitHub
Generate and configure an SSH key so your VPS can pull private GitHub repos:

ssh-keygen -f /home/raj/.ssh/ch124_ed25519 -t ed25519 -C "ch124repo"
cat ~/.ssh/ch124_ed25519.pub

Add Key to GitHub

• Go to GitHub → Repo Settings → Deploy Keys → Add Key
• Paste your public key content

Configure SSH for GitHub

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add:

Host ch124_project
   HostName github.com
   User git
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/ch124_ed25519
   IdentitiesOnly yes

Test:

ssh -T git@ch124_project

Step 3: Clone Your FastAPI Project

git clone git@ch124_project:rajeshrajkr4/ch124.git
cd ch124
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install gunicorn

Start Gunicorn manually to test:

gunicorn app.main:app --workers 4 --worker-class uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker --bind 0.0.0.0:8000

Step 4: Setup Gunicorn as a Systemd Service
Create a service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/ch124.service

Paste:

[Unit]
Description=Gunicorn instance to serve ch124 FastAPI App
After=network.target

[Service]
User=raj
Group=www-data
WorkingDirectory=/home/raj/ch124
Environment="PATH=/home/raj/ch124/venv/bin"
ExecStart=/home/raj/ch124/venv/bin/gunicorn app.main:app --workers 4 --worker-class uvicorn.workers.UvicornWorker --bind 127.0.0.1:8000

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Start and enable the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start ch124
sudo systemctl enable ch124

To check logs:

sudo journalctl -u ch124 -f

Step 5: Configure Nginx as a Reverse Proxy

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/ch124

Paste:

# Redirect www to non-www
server {
   listen 80;
   server_name www.javascriptguru.in;
   return 301 $scheme://javascriptguru.in$request_uri;
}

# Main App
server {
   listen 80;
   server_name javascriptguru.in;

   location / {
       proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
       proxy_set_header Host $host;
       proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
       proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
       proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
   }
}

Enable Nginx site:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/ch124 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

Step 6: Deploy Code Changes
Whenever you push changes to GitHub:

cd ~/ch124
git pull
sudo systemctl restart ch124.service

Step 7: Add HTTPS with Certbot
Install and configure Certbot for free SSL:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d javascriptguru.in -d www.javascriptguru.in