Check available memory

Linux uses free RAM for cache. A high used value does not always mean the VPS is out of memory. Look at available memory, sustained swap activity, and application errors together.

free -h
vmstat 1 5

These checks inspect memory and a short system sample; they do not resize the server.

Check a suspected OOM event

Review bounded system logs around the failure time using your OS logging tools. Some logs require elevated read access. Exit code 137 alone is not proof of an OOM event: a process may have been terminated for another reason.

Make measured changes

Large builds, database buffers, and worker concurrency can exhaust memory. Review the responsible application's settings and plan limits. Do not clear caches blindly or create a large swap file on a nearly full disk. Back up and plan downtime before changing resources or restarting critical processes.