Deploying Statamic on Proxmox LXC Containers

Why LXC?

Docker gets all the hype, but LXC containers are an underrated option for hosting small sites. They're lighter than VMs, give you a full Linux userspace, and on Proxmox they're dead simple to manage.

For a flat-file CMS like Statamic, an LXC container is perfect: you get full filesystem access, easy snapshots for backups, and none of the Docker networking complexity.

The Setup

Here's the high-level architecture:

1. Proxmox host runs on a dedicated machine
2. LXC container (Debian) hosts PHP, Nginx, and the Statamic app
3. Cloudflare Tunnel handles HTTPS and DNS
4. Git deploy pushes content and code changes

Container Configuration

I'm using a minimal Debian LXC with:

• PHP 8.2 with common extensions (mbstring, xml, curl, zip)
• Nginx as the web server
• Composer for PHP dependency management
• Node.js for building frontend assets

The container uses about 256MB of RAM at idle — much lighter than a Docker setup with separate containers for each service.

Deployment Flow

The deployment is simple:

# SSH into Proxmox, then into the container
ssh root@proxmox "pct exec 103 -- bash -c '
    cd /var/www/sobesto-blog
    && git pull
    && composer install --no-dev
    && npm run build
    && php artisan cache:clear
    && php please stache:clear
'"

Since Statamic is flat-file, there are no database migrations to worry about. Pull the code, build assets, clear cache — done.

Backups

Proxmox makes backups trivial. I snapshot the entire container weekly, and since all content is in git, I have a second layer of backup automatically.

Trade-offs

The main downside vs. a managed platform is that you're responsible for security updates and server maintenance. But for a personal blog, the control and simplicity are worth it.

LXC containers are one of those tools that, once you use them, you wonder why you ever reached for anything heavier.