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warenix
warenix

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How to Deploy Express on Now.sh

How to Deploy Express on Now.sh

In this post I'm going to share how to setup express API endpoints to run on version 2 of Now.sh. You will get a free https endpoints and run in serverless! Isn't it cool?

You can find full source code at github.

Prerequisite

  • Now CLI (12.1.9)
  • Node (v10.10.0)
  • express (4.16.4)

Add Endpoints to express

For simplicity we are going to have 2 endpoints to show how to handle GET and POST requests.

/get - GET

This returns VERSION in json output.

Edit index.js

app.get("/get", (req, res, next) => {
    res.json({
        "version": process.env.VERSION
    });
});

/post - POST

Echo back JSON content being posted.

Edit index.js

app.post('/post', function(request, response) {
    response.send(request.body);
});

Storing Secret as Environment Variable

You may have noticed in the '/get' endpoint we used process.env.VERSION. This is a common practice not to hardcode secrets in code.

Set Environment Variables

export VERSION="1.0"

Deploy to now.sh

Setup Build for now

We need to setup build to use @now/node-server. (Using @now/node just won't work). Modify now.json

"builds": [{
    "src": "index.js",
    "use": "@now/node-server"
}]

Read more at doc.

Set Environment Variable as Secret in now.sh

now-linux secret add VERSION $VERSION

Read more at doc.

Allow CORS

Here we need to add custom response headers. Modify now.json

"routes": [{
    "headers": {
        "Access-Control-Allow-Origin": "*",
        "Access-Control-Allow-Methods": "GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS",
        "Access-Control-Allow-Headers": "X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept"
    },
    "src": "/.*",
    "dest": "/index.js"
}]

Read more at doc.

Push to now.sh

now-linux

Sample output

❯ now-linux
> UPDATE AVAILABLE The latest version of Now CLI is 12.1.9
> Read more about how to update here: https://zeit.co/update-cli
> Changelog: https://github.com/zeit/now-cli/releases/tag/12.1.9
> Deploying ~/code/repo/github/express-now under XXXXXXX
> Synced 2 files (929B) [1s]
> https://express-now-3b57ke4d4.now.sh [v2] [in clipboard] [1s]
┌ index.js        Ready               [17s]
└── λ index.js (284.31KB) [sfo1]
> Success! Deployment ready [19s]

Tests

Spin up a localhost server.

npm start

Test /get

In terminal,

curl http://localhost:3000/get

Response

{"version":"1.0"}

Test /post

In terminal,

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"message":"hello"}' \
http://localhost:3000/post

Response

{"message":"hello"}

Note: You can replace localhost with the now.sh instance url.

Gotcha

Perhaps due to the nature of serverless sometime the endpoint returns 502 error. To tackle that please add retry mechanism to your service callers.

Top comments (8)

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revskill10 profile image
Truong Hoang Dung

How to get now.sh instance url ?

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gfelot profile image
Gil • Edited

When you deploy your code with now-linux (never heard of now-linux but just now yes, I have to check), the terminal should output the URL... it even write it on the clipboard (the memory instance when you copy/paste) this URL.

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warenix profile image
warenix

I got the Linux cli here. You will use now if you installed via npm

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revskill10 profile image
Truong Hoang Dung

What i mean is to get instance url at runtime in your app

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warenix profile image
warenix • Edited

As @Gli said once you push code to now, intance url will be printed on console. Notice the line https://express-now-3b57ke4d4.now.sh is printed.

Sample output

❯ now-linux

Deploying ~/code/repo/github/express-now under XXXXXXX
Synced 2 files (929B) [1s]
https://express-now-3b57ke4d4.now.sh [v2] [in clipboard] [1s]
┌ index.js Ready [17s]
└── λ index.js (284.31KB) [sfo1]
Success! Deployment ready [19s]

Visit zeit.co/now here to see more details

Thread Thread
 
revskill10 profile image
Truong Hoang Dung

No no, what i mean is, inside my index.js code, i want to get the instance url like process.env.NOW_URL, like in Now V1.

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jvarness profile image
Jake Varness

Zeit makes amazing APIs. Good introduction!

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rabbyhossain profile image
Rabby Hossian

I have created Express application using express-generator.So,what are the steps I need to follow ?