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Buildpack for Node.js, io.js And Meteor

nodejs

This buildpack has been developped to deploy any node.js application or an application based on the Meteor Framework (0.9+).

It is based on the original nodejs buildpack and has been updated to get an out of the box experience for Meteor.

How it Works

Apps are built via one of four paths:

  1. A regular npm install (first build; default scenario)
  2. Copy existing node_modules from cache, then npm prune, then npm install (subsequent builds)
  3. Skip dependencies (if package.json doesn't exist but server.js does)
  4. Skip cache, run npm rebuild before npm install (node_modules are checked into source control)

You should only use #3 (omitting package.json) for quick tests or experiments. You should never use #4 - it's included for backwards-compatibility and will generate warnings.

Adding node_modules directory in git repository is an antipattern.

Specify Node.js/NPM version

Node.js and NPM version are read from the engines section of the package.json file: https://doc.scalingo.com/languages/nodejs/start#specifying-a-nodejs-version

Common

  • Allows any recent version of node to be used, including pre-release versions.
  • Discourages use of dangerous semver ranges like * and >0.10.
  • Uses the version of npm that comes bundled with node.
  • Puts node and npm on the PATH so they can be executed with scalingo run.

Caching

  • Caches the node_modules directory across builds for fast deploys.
  • Meteor specific: we cache the meteor bundle to avoid spending time downloading it at each deployment
  • Doesn't use the cache if node_modules is checked into version control.
  • Runs npm rebuild if node_modules is checked into version control.
  • Always runs npm install to ensure npm script hooks are executed.
  • Always runs npm prune after restoring cached modules to ensure cleanup of unused dependencies.

For more technical details, see the compile script.

Documentation

For more information about using Node.js and buildpacks on Scalingo, see these Documentation pages:

Debug build

Meteor

By default, Meteor minify all your assets to stand in one single javascript file, if you want to make a 'debug' build (assets unminified), please defined the following environment variable:

scalingo -a app-name env-set METEOR_DEBUG_BUILD=true

Options for Meteor

If you're using the meteor framework, you just need to commit the .meteor directory at the root of your Meteor project, we'll detect and handle it to make your application work, out of the box.

If you are using Meteor ≥ 1.3, the flag --server-only will be used automatically to build your application for Meteor mobile integration.

Memory in the build process

Meteor build is handled by a Node.JS process which has a default limit: it can't use more than ~3.7GB of RAM. It can be too little for large Meteor applications and the build process will fail with the following error: Allocation failed.

The buildpack is fixing this issue by adding to the environment variable TOOL_NODE_FLAGS, the flag --max-old-space-size=8192 (except if this precise flag is already defined).

To update the value 8192, the variable BUILD_MAX_MEMORY can be overriden.

Starting flags for node process

For some reasons, you may want to use custom flags to run your application. The following environment variable let you customize this.

Example: (when meteor need to use 4GB of RAM)

scalingo -a app-name env-set NODE_BOOT_FLAGS="--max-old-space-size=4096"

Options for Node

Enable or disable node_modules caching

For a 'clean' build without using any cached node modules:

scalingo env-set NODE_MODULES_CACHE=false
git commit -am 'rebuild' --allow-empty
git push scalingo master
scalingo env-unset NODE_MODULES_CACHE

Caching node_modules between builds dramatically speeds up build times. However, npm install doesn't automatically update already-installed modules as long as they fall within acceptable semver ranges, which can lead to outdated modules.

Default: NODE_MODULES_CACHE defaults to true

Enable or disable devDependencies installation

During local development, npm install installs all dependencies and all devDependencies (test frameworks, build tools, etc). This is usually something you want to avoid in production, so npm has a 'production' config that can be set through the environment:

To install dependencies only:

scalingo -a app-name env-set NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION=true

To install dependencies and devDependencies:

scalingo -a app-name env-set NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION=false

Default: NPM_CONFIG_PRODUCTION defaults to true on Scalingo

Configure npm with .npmrc

Sometimes, a project needs custom npm behavior to set up proxies, use a different registry, etc. For such behavior, just include an .npmrc file in the root of your project:

# .npmrc
registry = 'https://custom-registry.com/'

Reasonable defaults for concurrency

This buildpack adds two environment variables: WEB_MEMORY and WEB_CONCURRENCY. You can set either of them, but if unset the buildpack will fill them with reasonable defaults.

  • WEB_MEMORY: expected memory use by each node process (in MB, default: 512)
  • WEB_CONCURRENCY: recommended number of processes to Cluster based on the current environment

Clustering is not done automatically; concurrency should be part of the app, usually via a library like throng. Apps without any clustering mechanism will remain unaffected by these variables.

This behavior allows your app to automatically take advantage of larger containers. The default settings will cluster 1 process on a S and M containers, 2 processes on L containers and 4 on XL containers.

For example, when your app starts:

app[web-1]: Detected 1024 MB available memory, 512 MB limit per process (WEB_MEMORY)
app[web-1]: Recommending WEB_CONCURRENCY=2
app[web-1]:
app[web-1]: > [email protected] start /app
app[web-1]: > node server.js
app[web-1]: Listening on 51118
app[web-1]: Listening on 51118

Chain Node with multiple buildpacks

This buildpack automatically exports node, npm, and any node_modules binaries into the $PATH for easy use in subsequent buildpacks.

Feedback or want to report an issue

Hacking

To make changes to this buildpack, fork it on Github. Push up changes to your fork, then create a new Scalingo app to test it, or configure an existing app to use your buildpack:

# Configure an existing Scalingo app to use your buildpack
scalingo -a app-name env-set BUILDPACK_URL=<your-github-url>

# You can also use a git branch!
scalingo -a app-name env-set BUILDPACK_URL=<your-github-url>#your-branch

Tests

The buildpack tests use Docker to simulate Scalingo environment.

To run the test suite:

make test

The tests are run via the vendored shunit2 test framework.

Debugging

To display the logged build outputs to assist with debugging, use the "echo" and "cat" commands. For example:

test() {
  local log_file var

  var="testtest"
  log_file=$(mktemp)
  echo "this is the log file" > "$log_file"
  echo "test log file" >> "$log_file"

  # use `echo` and `cat` for printing variables and reading files respectively
  echo $var
  cat $log_file

  # some cases when debugging is necessary
  assertEquals "$var" "testtest"
  assertFileContains "test log file" "$log_file"
}

Running the test above would produce:

testtest
this is the log file
test log file

The test output writes to $STD_OUT, so you can use cat $STD_OUT to read output.