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Here are the three best ways to sync a Git repo onto an EC2 Ubuntu instance. Choose the one that fits your workflow (auto-deploy, manual pull, or CI/CD).

✅ Method 1 — Clone & Pull directly on the EC2 instance

(simplest and most common)

1. SSH into your EC2

ssh -i ~/.ssh/your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-ip

2. Install Git

sudo apt update
sudo apt install git -y

3. Clone your repo

git clone https://github.com/username/repo.git

Or with SSH:

git clone git@github.com:username/repo.git

4. Update later (sync changes)

cd repo
git pull

🔐 If using a private GitHub repo

On EC2:

1. Create SSH key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

2. Show the public key

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Copy → paste into GitHub: GitHub → Settings → SSH keys → Add key

Then you can clone with:

git clone git@github.com:username/repo.git

✅ Method 2 — Sync using `rsync` from your local machine

(best for deployment without exposing server to GitHub)

From your laptop:

rsync -avz --exclude 'node_modules' --exclude '.git' \
-e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/web1.pem" \
. ubuntu@op1.evolo.fr:~/starl1

Then on EC2:

cd ~/starl1
npm install
pm2 restart app

This is what we already talked about for deployments.

✅ Method 3 — Auto-deploy using GitHub Webhooks + PM2 deploy

(best for production)

This pulls your repo automatically when you push to GitHub.

1. Install PM2 deploy tool:

npm install -g pm2

2. Add deploy section to your `ecosystem.config.js`:

module.exports = {
  apps: [{
    name: "app",
    script: "index.js",
  }],

  deploy: {
    production: {
      user: "ubuntu",
      host: "your-ec2-ip",
      ref: "origin/main",
      repo: "git@github.com:username/repo.git",
      path: "/home/ubuntu/app",
      "post-deploy": "npm install && pm2 reload app --update-env"
    }
  }
}

3. From your local machine:

pm2 deploy production setup
pm2 deploy production

This does:

✔ Clone repo ✔ Install dependencies ✔ Restart Node app ✔ Rollback in case of failure

Automatic and clean.

🎯 Which method should YOU use?

Need	Best Method
Simple sync	Git clone + pull
Deploy from local machine	`rsync`
Full auto-deployment	PM2 deploy
Large app or multiple servers	PM2 or GitHub Actions

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