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For production environments, psys can run as a background process with no terminal output, making it ideal for continuous monitoring.

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Background Process Mode

The start:bg script runs psys as a detached background process that continues running even after closing your terminal.
1

Build the production bundle

Build the application at least once before starting in background mode:
npm run build
This creates an optimized production build using next build.
2

Start the background server

npm run start:bg
This runs the command:
nohup next start -p 30999 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
3

Access the application

Open http://localhost:30999 in your browser.The app continues running in the background on port 30999.

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Background Script Breakdown

The start:bg script uses several techniques to run as a background process: 
nohup next start -p 30999 > /dev/null 2>&1 &
ComponentPurpose
nohupPrevents the process from being terminated when the terminal closes
next startStarts the Next.js production server
-p 30999Runs on port 30999 instead of the default 3000
> /dev/nullRedirects standard output to null (no terminal output)
2>&1Redirects standard error to standard output (also suppressed)
&Runs the command in the background
With this configuration, the server produces no terminal output. To monitor the application, access it through the web interface or check system logs.

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When to Use Each Mode

Development Mode

Use npm run dev when:
  • Developing new features
  • Testing changes with hot reload
  • Debugging issues
  • Need detailed error messages

Production Mode

Use npm start when:
  • Running in production
  • Need optimized performance
  • Want to test production build locally
  • Terminal needs to stay open

Background Mode

Use npm run start:bg when:
  • Running continuously in production
  • Want to close the terminal
  • Need a dedicated monitoring port
  • Running as a system service

Never Use

Don’t use npm run dev in production:
  • Slower performance
  • Larger memory footprint
  • Security implications
  • Not optimized for production workloads

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Stopping the Background Process

To stop a background process started with npm run start:bg:
1

Find the process ID

ps aux | grep "next start"
2

Kill the process

kill <PID>
Replace <PID> with the process ID from the previous step.
For easier process management, consider setting up a shell alias to start and stop psys with simple commands.