Debian 13 setup: MongoDB + Node.js + Payload app

This guide installs:

• Node.js (LTS, 22.x)
• MongoDB Community Edition (8.0)
• A new Payload app

0) Prerequisites

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg build-essential

---

1) Install Node.js (22.x LTS)

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_22.x nodistro main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

node -v
npm -v

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2) Install MongoDB (native package method)

As of this writing, MongoDB's Debian install doc targets Debian 12 ("bookworm"). On Debian 13, many users run MongoDB 8.0 using the bookworm repo below.

curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-8.0.asc | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg
echo "deb [ signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg ] https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/debian bookworm/mongodb-org/8.0 main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

sudo systemctl enable --now mongod
sudo systemctl status mongod --no-pager

Test MongoDB:

mongosh --eval 'db.runCommand({ ping: 1 })'

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3) Docker fallback for MongoDB (if native package fails)

If mongodb-org does not install cleanly on your Debian 13 machine, use Docker:

sudo apt-get install -y docker.io
sudo systemctl enable --now docker
sudo docker run -d \
  --name mongodb \
  -p 27017:27017 \
  -v mongo-data:/data/db \
  mongo:8

Mongo URL:

mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/payload-app

---

4) Create and run a Payload app

npx create-payload-app@latest -n payload-app -t blank --use-npm
cd payload-app

When prompted for a database, choose MongoDB.

Create .env:

cat > .env << 'EOF'
DATABASE_URI=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017/payload-app
PAYLOAD_SECRET=replace-with-a-long-random-string
NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:3000
EOF

Tip: generate a secret quickly:

openssl rand -base64 32

Start the app:

npm run dev

Then open:

• App: http://localhost:3000
• Admin: http://localhost:3000/admin

---

5) If your generated app is not on MongoDB

Install adapter:

npm install @payloadcms/db-mongodb

In your Payload config, use:

import { mongooseAdapter } from '@payloadcms/db-mongodb'

db: mongooseAdapter({
  url: process.env.DATABASE_URI || '',
})