What You'll Need n8n Cloud or self-hosted n8n (for orchestrating automated workflows) Hetzner VPS or Contabo VPS for hosting your Node.js processes DigitalOcean as an alternative hosting provider Node.js 18+ installed locally and on your server SSH access to your VPS PM2 (we'll install this together) A text editor (VS Code recommended) Table of Contents Why PM2 Matters for Bot Automation Installation & Initial Setup Running Your First Process Clustering & Load Balancing Monitoring & Logs in Real-Time Auto-Restart on Server Reboot Integration with n8n Webhooks Getting Started Why PM2 Matters for Bot Automation I learned this the hard way. Three years ago, I deployed a Node.js bot to a VPS—no process manager. It crashed at 2 AM on a Sunday, sat dead for six hours, and tanked the entire automation pipeline. That was the day I discovered PM2.…