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Deploy Node Apps

Node is a back-end JavaScript runtime environment, executes JavaScript code outside a web browser. Although Node is served as an compiled language, it doesn't emit binaries, so you don't need to compile your code before running it.

There's a default Node interpreter from system but we recommend you to install it as your own through deployment scripts.

warning

Serving Node apps can be run using CJS-only binding or via GLS. If you choose to run via GLS, you have to listen from given PORT env/args. If you choose to run it via CJS-only binding, please note the default app name (that's app.js) and the path of node interpreter to run with.

Example​

The deployment script below installs the latest node compiler and writes app.js and serves that through CJS-only bindings.

https://github.com/domcloud/recipes/blob/master/node.yml
source: clear
features:
  - node latest
nginx:
  root: public_html/public
  passenger:
    enabled: "on"
    app_type: node
    startup_file: app.js
    node: .local/opt/node/bin/node
commands:
  - filename: app.js
    content: |
      const http = require('http');
      const html_text = `
      <!DOCTYPE html>
      <html>
      <head>
          <title>Node App</title>
          <link rel="stylesheet" href="//unpkg.com/bootstrap/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css">
      </head>
      <body class="p-5 text-center">
          <p><img src="//images.unsplash.com/photo-1465153690352-10c1b29577f8?fit=crop&w=200&h=200" 
                  class="img-fluid rounded-circle"></p>
          <h1 class="mb-3">Hello, world!</h1>
          <p>Serving from Node version ${process.version}</p>
          <p class="text-muted">DOM Cloud</p>
      </body>
      </html>
      `
      const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
        res.statusCode = 200;
        res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/html');
        res.end(html_text);
      });
      server.listen(process.env.PORT || 8080);

With CJS-only bindings, it doesn't matter what port number server.listen is being assigned, it will be corrected automagically. However with CJS-only bindings, you can't use ESM-style imports, you have to use GLS as the only option if your project uses that.

Existing Node projects​

For existing node apps, use the deployment script below. Note the startup file name (app.js) and the package installer (whether you're using npm/yarn/pnpm these all are already installed with the help of corepack).

https://github.com/domcloud/recipes/blob/master/node-cjs.yml
features:
  - node lts
nginx:
  root: public_html/public
  passenger:
    enabled: "on"
    app_type: node
    startup_file: app.js
commands:
  - npm install

Other deployment scripts we offer also listed below.

For projects that using ESM-style imports, GLS binding can be used as it's the basic for any custom web server either for Node and other code languages. The requirement to use this is your app must listen to given PORT env/args (either node ... --port=$PORT or env PORT=$PORT node ...). You can also use alternative calls such as npm start here.

https://github.com/domcloud/recipes/blob/master/node-esm.yml
features:
  - node lts
nginx:
  root: public_html/public
  passenger:
    enabled: "on"
    app_start_command: env PORT=$PORT node app.js
commands:
  - npm install

Use other Node versions​

To switch node version use feature syntax like node stable, node latest, node 16.2.1, node 16, etc. Check your current node version using node --version in SSH.

features:
  - node 16.2.1

Node install scripts is powered by nvm.

App Management​

Your app do not restarted automatically after file changes. To restart, run restart via SSH.

Environment variables can be set either using NGINX's env_var_list or ~/.bashrc. Usually your language framework also reads .env files.

See NGINX and App Daemon for more information about NGINX and App managements including restarting, environment variables, and other global limitations.

App Logging​

You can see app log from Check -> Check Process Logs tab. Only startup problems displayed in the browser.

Please use a proper logging mechanism such as Pino or Winston then write it to a log file, or any other solution that suits you.

NGINX errors and traffic logs can be examined via Webmin or Check -> Check Process Logs tab.