How to Scaffold a Boilerplate MERN Application and Deploy to Heroku

This article originally published on jarednielsen.com

There's more than one way to scaffold a boilerplate MERN application and deploy it to Heroku. This method is straightforward and easy to maintain.

The repository containing starter code is available on GitHub

Initialize Your Project with npm

mkdir mern
cd mern
npm init

During the init process you will be prompted to add a GitHub repository. Now would be a good time to make a new project on GitHub. Add the repo link to your package.json when prompted.

Initialize Your Project with Git

git init
git remote add origin <URL-to-your-repo>

Add node_modules to your .gitignore.

Set Up a Simple Express Server

npm install express --save

Add a server.js:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send("Hello World!");
});

const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3001;
app.listen(PORT);

Start the server and navigate to localhost:3001 to verify that it works. You don't need to use port 3001, but don't use 3000. That's the default for Create React App.

Deploy to Heroku

Do not wait until the last minute to deploy! Let’s deploy this now so we can test deployment periodically.

Update package.json:

"scripts": {
  "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
  "start": "node server.js"
  },

Then log into Heroku via the command line and create a new app:

heroku login
heroku create

Verify the creation of your Heroku app by running git remote -v.

Then run the following:

git add .
git commit -m “First”
git push -u origin master
git push heroku master

Navigate to the URL provided to verify deployment.

In the future:

git add .
git commit -m “Ch-ch-ch-changes…”
git push heroku master

MongoDB

Log into Heroku.com and find your app. Under Resources, search for mLab in the Add-ons input field and add it as a Provision. If there are no results, you need to add a credit card to your account. Don't worry, it's free.

Just for fun, under Settings, reveal your app config variables. There it is, our MongoDB environment variable, MONGODB_URI. You will see how that is used below.

Install Mongoose:

npm install --save mongoose`

Add to server.js:

const mongoose = require('mongoose');

mongoose.connect(
  process.env.MONGODB_URI || "mongodb://localhost/mern",
  {
    useNewUrlParser: true
    useUnifiedTopology: true,
  }
);

Add models and routes directories to your app:

mkdir models routes

To these add placeholder index.js files:

touch models/index.js routes/index.js

React

Install Create React App if you don't already have it:

npm install -g create-react-app

From within your the root directory of your app, run

create-react-app client

Now let's connect the front to the back using concurrently and a proxy:

npm install --save concurrently

To the package.json in the root directory of your app, add two new scripts:

"scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "node server.js",
    "client": "npm run start --prefix client",
    "dev": "concurrently \"npm run start\" \"npm run client\""
  },

To the package.json in your client directory, just below "private", add:

"proxy": "http://localhost:3001/",

From here you will start your app from its root directory with:

npm run dev

This will start both servers concurrently. Try it!

Heroku, Again

Add the path package:

npm install --save path

In server.js, replace the 'Hello World!' get route with the following:

if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production") {
  app.use(express.static("client/build"));
  const path = require('path');
  app.get('*', (req, res) => {
    res.sendFile(path.resolve(__dirname, 'client', 'build', 'index.html'));
  });
}

All requests will be met with the index.html file as a response. From there, you will use ReactRouter.

To the package.json in the root directory of your app, add one more script:

"heroku-postbuild": "NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION=false npm install --prefix client && npm run build --prefix client"

See also: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#customizing-the-build-process

Add, commit and push to Heroku. Verify that your app builds and is now live.

Happy routing!

The deployed application can be found https://stormy-beach-74916.herokuapp.com/

I write a weekly newsletter where I share articles about programming, problem solving and lifelong learning. Join now