Quickstart: Deploy an Express.js App

This guide explains how to deploy an Express.js application to seenode.

Deploy an Express.js Template

Get started in seconds by deploying our pre-configured Express.js template. This example is ready to deploy and reflects the structure discussed in this guide.

Express.js Template

Deploy an Express.js project pre-configured for production.

Deploying an Existing Express.js Project

Follow these steps to prepare and deploy your Express.js project.

Prerequisites

• A seenode account.
• An existing Express.js project pushed to a GitHub or GitLab repository.

Don’t have a project yet?

You can fork our Express.js quickstart project.

Once you’ve forked the repository, you can start your 7-day free trial by deploying it on seenode.

1. Prepare Your Project for Production

   Your project structure should be ready for deployment.

   Project Structure

   A minimal Express.js project contains a main.js entry point and a package.json file.

   • Directoryyour-express-project/

     • main.js // The application entry point
     • package.json

   Dependencies

   Make sure your package.json lists express as a dependency.

   package.json

   {
     "name": "example-nodejs-express",
     "version": "1.0.0",
     "main": "main.js",
     "scripts": {
       "start": "node main.js"
     },
     "dependencies": {
       "express": "^4.18.2"
     }
   }

   Run

   npm install

   to create your package-lock.json file.

   Application Code

   Your main.js file should create an Express server that listens on a port defined by an environment variable. This allows seenode to correctly route traffic to your application.

   main.js

   const express = require('express');
   const app = express();
   const port = process.env.PORT || 3000;
   
   app.get('/', (req, res) => {
       res.send('Hello World\\nWelcome to Seenode!');
   });
   
   app.listen(port, () => {
       console.log(`Example app listening on port ${port}`);
   });

2. Deploy on seenode

   Follow these steps to deploy your Express.js application:

   1. First, create a new Web Service from the seenode Dashboard and connect your Express.js project’s Git repository.
   2. Configure your build and start commands. seenode will attempt to detect these automatically.
      • Build Command:

        npm install

      • Start Command:

        node main.js

   3. In the Environment tab, set a PORT variable (e.g., 8080). seenode does not automatically assign one.
   4. Choose your preferred instance size and create your service.
   5. Watch your deployment progress in real-time through the Logs tab.
   6. Once complete, your Express.js application will be accessible via your service’s URL.

   Troubleshooting

   If your deployment fails, the first place to check is the Logs tab in your seenode service dashboard. Build and runtime logs often contain valuable information for diagnosing issues.

Next Steps

Now that your Express.js application is deployed, here are some things you might want to do next:

Set up a Custom Domain (Coming Soon)

Configure a custom domain to point to your new web service.

Connect to a Database

Instantly scaffold and connect PostgreSQL and MySQL databases