diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4c585b5..73bcd41 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ next-env.d.ts
 /media
 /pastor-letters
 
+# PM2 logs
+/logs
+
 # SQLite database files
 *.db
 *.db-shm
diff --git a/ecosystem.config.cjs b/ecosystem.config.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94db4d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ecosystem.config.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+// PM2 process definition for db-ministerial (Next.js + Payload CMS).
+//
+// The package is ESM ("type": "module"), so this config MUST be .cjs.
+//
+// Deploy flow on the server:
+//   pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
+//   cp .env.example .env        # then set a real PAYLOAD_SECRET
+//   pnpm build                  # production build (.next/)
+//   pnpm import:pastors         # one-time: load pastors from the CSV
+//   pm2 start ecosystem.config.cjs
+//   pm2 save                    # persist across reboots (see `pm2 startup`)
+//
+// Env vars (DATABASE_URI, PAYLOAD_SECRET, …) are read from the project's .env
+// by Next.js automatically. Anything set in `env` below overrides that.
+
+module.exports = {
+  apps: [
+    {
+      name: 'db-ministerial',
+      // Run the Next.js binary directly so PM2 doesn't depend on pnpm being
+      // on its PATH. Equivalent to `next start`.
+      script: 'node_modules/next/dist/bin/next',
+      args: 'start',
+      cwd: __dirname,
+
+      instances: 1,
+      exec_mode: 'fork',
+      autorestart: true,
+      watch: false,
+      max_memory_restart: '1G',
+
+      env: {
+        NODE_ENV: 'production',
+        NODE_OPTIONS: '--no-deprecation',
+        PORT: 3000,
+      },
+
+      // Logs (relative to cwd). Create ./logs or change these paths.
+      error_file: './logs/db-ministerial-error.log',
+      out_file: './logs/db-ministerial-out.log',
+      merge_logs: true,
+      time: true,
+    },
+  ],
+}