A reverse proxy sits in front of your applications and forwards incoming requests to the correct service based on domain or path.

Nginx is a popular reverse proxy because it is fast, reliable, well-documented, and free, running well even on small VPS plans.

Common uses include hosting multiple sites on one server, running apps on different ports behind clean domain names, and adding HTTPS in one place.

The basic setup involves installing Nginx, creating a server block per site, pointing it at the app's local address, and testing the configuration.

HTTPS, security headers, and log monitoring turn a working proxy into a production-ready setup that is safe to rely on.