Deploying Go Micro Services

This guide covers deploying go-micro services to a Linux server using systemd.

Overview

go-micro provides a clear workflow from development to production:

Stage	Command	Purpose
Develop	`micro run`	Local dev with hot reload and API gateway
Build	`micro build`	Compile production binaries for any target OS
Deploy	`micro deploy`	Push binaries to a remote Linux server via SSH + systemd
Dashboard	`micro server`	Optional production web UI with JWT auth and user management

Each command has a distinct role — they don’t overlap:

micro run builds, runs, and watches services locally. It includes a lightweight gateway. Use it for development.
micro build compiles binaries without running them. Use it to prepare release artifacts.
micro deploy sends binaries to a remote server and manages them with systemd. It builds automatically if needed.
micro server provides an authenticated web dashboard for services that are already running. It does NOT build or run services.

Quick Start

1. Prepare Your Server

On your server (Ubuntu, Debian, or any systemd-based Linux):

# Install micro
curl -fsSL https://go-micro.dev/install.sh | sh

# Initialize for deployment
sudo micro init --server

This creates:

/opt/micro/bin/ - where service binaries live
/opt/micro/data/ - persistent data directory
/opt/micro/config/ - environment files
systemd template for managing services

2. Deploy from Your Machine

# From your project directory
micro deploy user@your-server

That’s it! The deploy command:

Builds your services for Linux
Copies binaries to the server
Configures and starts systemd services
Verifies everything is running

Detailed Setup

Server Requirements

Linux with systemd (Ubuntu 16.04+, Debian 8+, CentOS 7+, etc.)
SSH access
Go installed (only if building on server)

Server Initialization Options

# Basic setup (creates 'micro' user)
sudo micro init --server

# Custom installation path
sudo micro init --server --path /home/deploy/micro

# Run services as existing user
sudo micro init --server --user deploy

# Initialize remotely (from your laptop)
micro init --server --remote user@your-server

What Gets Created

Directories:

/opt/micro/
├── bin/      # Service binaries
├── data/     # Persistent data (databases, files)
└── config/   # Environment files (*.env)

Systemd Template (/etc/systemd/system/micro@.service):

[Unit]
Description=Micro service: %i
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=micro
WorkingDirectory=/opt/micro
ExecStart=/opt/micro/bin/%i
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
EnvironmentFile=-/opt/micro/config/%i.env

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

The %i is replaced with the service name. So micro@users.service runs /opt/micro/bin/users.

Deployment

Basic Deploy

micro deploy user@server

Deploy Specific Service

micro deploy user@server --service users

Force Rebuild

micro deploy user@server --build

Named Deploy Targets

Add to your micro.mu:

service users
    path ./users
    port 8081

service web
    path ./web
    port 8080

deploy prod
    ssh deploy@prod.example.com

deploy staging
    ssh deploy@staging.example.com

Then:

micro deploy prod      # deploys to prod.example.com
micro deploy staging   # deploys to staging.example.com

Managing Services

Check Status

# Local services
micro status

# Remote services
micro status --remote user@server

Output:

server.example.com
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

  users    ● running    pid 1234
  posts    ● running    pid 1235
  web      ● running    pid 1236

View Logs

# All services
micro logs --remote user@server

# Specific service
micro logs users --remote user@server

# Follow logs
micro logs users --remote user@server -f

Stop Services

micro stop users --remote user@server

Direct systemctl Access

You can also manage services directly on the server:

# Status
sudo systemctl status micro@users

# Restart
sudo systemctl restart micro@users

# Stop
sudo systemctl stop micro@users

# Logs
journalctl -u micro@users -f

Environment Variables

Create environment files at /opt/micro/config/<service>.env:

# /opt/micro/config/users.env
DATABASE_URL=postgres://localhost/users
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
LOG_LEVEL=info

These are automatically loaded by systemd when the service starts.

SSH Setup

Key-Based Authentication

# Generate key (if you don't have one)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519

# Copy to server
ssh-copy-id user@server

SSH Config

Add to ~/.ssh/config:

Host prod
    HostName prod.example.com
    User deploy
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/deploy_key

Host staging
    HostName staging.example.com
    User deploy
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/deploy_key

Then deploy with:

micro deploy prod

Troubleshooting

“Cannot connect to server”

✗ Cannot connect to myserver

  SSH connection failed. Check that:
  • The server is reachable: ping myserver
  • SSH is configured: ssh user@myserver
  • Your key is added: ssh-add -l

Fix:

# Test SSH connection
ssh user@server

# Add SSH key
ssh-copy-id user@server

# Check SSH agent
eval $(ssh-agent)
ssh-add

“Server not initialized”

✗ Server not initialized

  micro is not set up on myserver.

Fix:

ssh user@server 'sudo micro init --server'

“Service failed to start”

Check the logs:

micro logs myservice --remote user@server

# Or on the server:
journalctl -u micro@myservice -n 50

Common causes:

Missing environment variables
Port already in use
Database not reachable
Binary permissions issue

“Permission denied”

Ensure your user can write to /opt/micro/bin/:

# On server
sudo chown -R deploy:deploy /opt/micro

# Or add user to micro group
sudo usermod -aG micro deploy

Security Best Practices

Use a dedicated deploy user - Don’t deploy as root
Use SSH keys - Disable password authentication
Restrict sudo - Only allow necessary commands
Firewall - Only expose needed ports
Secrets - Use environment files with restricted permissions (0600)

Minimal sudo access

Add to /etc/sudoers.d/micro:

deploy ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/systemctl daemon-reload
deploy ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/systemctl enable micro@*
deploy ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/systemctl restart micro@*
deploy ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/systemctl stop micro@*
deploy ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /bin/systemctl status micro@*

Production Dashboard (Optional)

Once services are deployed and managed by systemd, you can optionally run micro server on the same machine to get a full web dashboard with authentication:

# On your server
micro server

This gives you:

Web Dashboard at http://your-server:8080 with JWT authentication
API Gateway with authenticated HTTP-to-RPC proxy
User Management — create accounts, generate/revoke API tokens
Logs & Status — view service logs and uptime from the browser

The server discovers services via the registry automatically. Default login: admin / micro.

See the micro server documentation for details.

Next Steps

micro run - Local development
micro server - Production web dashboard with auth
micro.mu configuration - Configuration file format
Health checks - Service health endpoints