165 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
Executable File
165 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
Executable File
# create-react-app with a Node server on Heroku
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A minimal example of using a Node backend (server for API, proxy, & routing) with a [React frontend](https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app).
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* 📐 [Design Points](#user-content-design-points)
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* 🕺 [Demo](#user-content-demo)
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* 🚀 [Deploy to Heroku](#user-content-deploy-to-heroku)
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* ⤵️ [Switching from create-react-app-buildpack](#user-content-switching-from-create-react-app-buildpack)
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* 🎛 [Runtime Config](#user-content-runtime-config)
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* 💻 [Local Development](#user-content-local-development)
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To deploy a frontend-only React app, use the static-site optimized
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▶️ [create-react-app-buildpack](https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-buildpack)
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## Design Points
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A combo of two npm projects, the backend server and the frontend UI. So there are two `package.json` configs and thereforce [two places to run `npm` commands](#user-content-local-development):
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1. [**Node server**](server/): [`./package.json`](package.json)
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* [deployed automatically](https://devcenter.heroku.com/categories/deployment) via heroku/nodejs buildpack
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2. [**React UI**](react-ui/): [`react-ui/package.json`](react-ui/package.json)
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* generated by [create-react-app](https://github.com/facebookincubator/create-react-app)
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* deployed via `build` script in the Node server's [`./package.json`](package.json)
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* module cache configured by `cacheDirectories`
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Includes a minimal [Node Cluster](https://nodejs.org/docs/latest-v8.x/api/cluster.html) [implementation](server/index.js) to parallelize the single-threaded Node process across the available CPU cores.
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## Demo
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[Demo deployment](https://cra-node.herokuapp.com/): example API call from the React UI is [fetched with a relative URL](react-ui/src/App.js#L16) that is served by an Express handler in the Node server.
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## Deploy to Heroku
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```bash
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git clone https://github.com/mars/heroku-cra-node.git
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cd heroku-cra-node/
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heroku create
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git push heroku master
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```
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This deployment will automatically:
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* detect [Node buildpack](https://elements.heroku.com/buildpacks/heroku/heroku-buildpack-nodejs)
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* build the app with
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* `npm install` for the Node server
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* `npm run build` for create-react-app
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* launch the web process with `npm start`
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* serves `../react-ui/build/` as static files
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* customize by adding API, proxy, or route handlers/redirectors
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⚠️ Using npm 5’s new `package-lock.json`? We resolved a compatibility issue. See [PR](https://github.com/mars/heroku-cra-node/pull/10) for more details.
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👓 More about [deploying to Heroku](https://devcenter.heroku.com/categories/deployment).
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## Switching from create-react-app-buildpack
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If an app was previously deployed with [create-react-app-buildpack](https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-buildpack), then a few steps are required to migrate the app to this architecture:
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1. Remove **create-react-app-buildpack** from the app; [heroku/nodejs buildpack](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/nodejs-support#activation) will be automatically activated
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```bash
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heroku buildpacks:clear
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```
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1. Move the root React app files (including dotfiles) into a `react-ui/` subdirectory
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```bash
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mkdir react-ui
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git mv -k [!react-ui]* react-ui/
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mv node_modules react-ui/
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# If you see "fatal: Not a git repository", then fix that error
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mv react-ui/.git ./
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```
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⚠️ *Some folks have reported problems with these commands. Using the `bash` shell will probably allow them to work. Sorry if they do not work for you, know that the point is to move **everything** in the repo into the `react-ui/` subdirectory. Except for `.git/` which should remain at the root level.*
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1. Create a root [`package.json`](package.json), [`server/`](server/), & [`.gitignore`](.gitignore) modeled after the code in this repo
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1. Commit and deploy ♻️
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```bash
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git add -A
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git commit -m 'Migrate from create-react-app-buildpack to Node server'
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git push heroku master
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```
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1. If the app uses [Runtime configuration](https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-buildpack/blob/master/README.md#user-content-runtime-configuration), then follow [Runtime config](#user-content-runtime-config) below to keep it working.
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## Runtime Config
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create-react-app itself supports [configuration with environment variables](https://facebook.github.io/create-react-app/docs/adding-custom-environment-variables). These compile-time variables are embedded in the bundle during the build process, and may go stale when the app slug is promoted through a pipeline or otherwise changed without a rebuild. See create-react-app-buildpack's docs for further elaboration of [compile-time vs runtime variables](https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-buildpack/blob/master/README.md#user-content-compile-time-vs-runtime).
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[create-react-app-buildpack's runtime config](https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-buildpack/blob/master/README.md#user-content-runtime-configuration) makes it possible to dynamically change variables, no rebuild required. That runtime config technique may be applied to Node.js based apps such as this one.
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1. Add the inner buildpack to your app, so that the `heroku/nodejs` buildpack is last:
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```bash
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heroku buildpacks:add -i 1 https://github.com/mars/create-react-app-inner-buildpack
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# Verify that create-react-app-inner-buildpack comes before nodejs
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heroku buildpacks
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```
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2. Set the bundle location for runtime config injection:
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```bash
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heroku config:set JS_RUNTIME_TARGET_BUNDLE='/app/react-ui/build/static/js/*.js'
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```
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3. Now, build the app with this new setup:
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```bash
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git commit --allow-empty -m 'Enable runtime config with create-react-app-inner-buildpack'
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git push heroku master
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```
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## Local Development
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Because this app is made of two npm projects, there are two places to run `npm` commands:
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1. **Node API server** at the root `./`
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1. **React UI** in `react-ui/` directory.
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### Run the API server
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In a terminal:
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```bash
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# Initial setup
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npm install
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# Start the server
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npm start
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```
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#### Install new npm packages for Node
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```bash
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npm install package-name --save
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```
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### Run the React UI
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The React app is configured to proxy backend requests to the local Node server. (See [`"proxy"` config](react-ui/package.json))
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In a separate terminal from the API server, start the UI:
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```bash
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# Always change directory, first
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cd react-ui/
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# Initial setup
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npm install
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# Start the server
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npm start
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```
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#### Install new npm packages for React UI
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```bash
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# Always change directory, first
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cd react-ui/
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npm install package-name --save
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```
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