Node.js

Introduction

Node.js is a server platform that runs applications written in JavaScript.

First, you need to install Node.js:

• Go to "Settings" -> "Applications"

• Click the "Install" button for the required Node.js version

Create a website:

• Select a template for a Node.js website

• Specify the domain and related parameters. At the configuration stage you can change the DB, FTP user, and Backend

• Upload the application files into the website directory
• To install dependencies run npm20.15.1 install in Terminal (need to install ttyd application for FASTPANEL^®)

• Restart Node.js by going to the site dashboard and then opening the "Services" section.

Express framework

Using the Express framework as an example, let’s create a simple web server:

• Connect to the server via SSH as the user who owns the site (you can use the ttyd application for FASTPANEL^®)
• Create a file app.js in the website directory and fill it with the following code:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const PORT = process.env.SERVICE_PORT;

app.get('/', (req, res) => {
  res.send('Hello! This is my first server on Node.js + Express 🚀');
});

app.listen(PORT, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running at http://localhost:${PORT}`);
});

• In the website directory, run the command to install express

npm20.15.1 install express

• Go to the site dashboard, then to the Services section
• Restart the service
• Check the website

Docusaurus

Using the Docusaurus web application as an example, let’s configure settings:

• Connect to the server via SSH as the user who owns the site (you can use the ttyd application for FASTPANEL^®)
• In the website directory, run the Docusaurus installation

npx20.15.1 create-docusaurus -j ./docs

• When asked to select a template, answer classic (recommended)
• After installation, replace one line in the file docs/package.json

"start": "docusaurus start",
# replace with 
"start": "docusaurus start --port $SERVICE_PORT",

$SERVICE_PORT is a system variable set in FASTPANEL^®

• In the control panel, go to "site settings" -> "Backend"
• Select the Standalone or PM2 handler.
• Choose the desired Node.js version.
• Specify the working folder docs
• In the Launch command field, enter: npm run start
• Save. Wait for the application to compile (information will appear in the logs). Check the website

Next.js

Using Next.js with Node.js 20.19 as an example, let’s create a simple web server:

• Connect to the server via SSH as the user who owns the website (you can also use the ttyd application in FASTPANEL^®).
• In the website directory, run the project initialization command:

yarn20.19.4 init -y
yarn20.19.4 add next react react-dom

• Add a scripts block to the package.json file:

"scripts": {
  "dev": "next dev -p $SERVICE_PORT",
  "build": "next build",
  "start": "next start -p $SERVICE_PORT"
}

• Create a pages directory and inside it, add a file named index.js:

mkdir pages
cat <<EOF > pages/index.js
export async function getServerSideProps() {
  return {
    props: {
      nodeVersion: process.version,
      port: process.env.SERVICE_PORT || 3000,
    },
  };
}

export default function Home({ nodeVersion, port }) {
  return (
    <div style={{
      fontFamily: 'sans-serif',
      textAlign: 'center',
      marginTop: '20vh'
    }}>
      <h1>✅ It works!</h1>
      <p>Next.js app running on Node.js {nodeVersion}</p>
      <p>Port: {port}</p>
    </div>
  );
}
EOF

• Run the project build.

yarn20.19.4 build

• In the control panel, go to "site settings" -> "Backend"
• Select the Standalone or PM2 handler.
• Choose the desired Node.js version.
• In the Launch command field, enter: yarn run start.
• Save. Wait for the application to compile (information will appear in the logs). Check the website

Additional information

In Standalone mode, a Node.js process is launched to execute your scripts.

In PM2 mode, the PM2 process manager is used to manage Node.js processes, logs, and system load.
This mode also allows you to specify the number of workers — that is, the number of Node.js processes handling incoming requests to the server.
Additionally, this mode provides the Enable file watch option — PM2 automatically restart your application when a file is modified in the current directory or its subdirectories. Please note that this mode introduces additional system load and is not recommended for production environments.

Similarly, you can configure the application if it requires YARN instead of NPM

You can install your project’s dependencies listed in package.json using YARN or NPM directly from FASTPANEL^®. To do this, open the website card and go to the Services section:

Logs

A Node.js application can generate logs. In FASTPANEL^®, they are located in the site dashboard, in the Logs section, under the "Backend log" tab

Console commands

After installing Node.js in FASTPANEL^®, users can work with their projects using console commands such as:

• pm2
• yarn20.15.1
• npx20.15.1
• npm20.15.1
• node20.15.1

Example:

$ npm20.15.1 list
node-socket-port-server@1.0.0 /var/www/node_user/data/www/node.site
└── express@4.21.2

$ pm2 ls
┌────┬─────────────┬─────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬──────────┬────────┬──────┬───────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┬──────────┐
│ id │ name        │ namespace   │ version │ mode    │ pid      │ uptime │ ↺    │ status    │ cpu      │ mem      │ user     │ watching │
├────┼─────────────┼─────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼──────────┼────────┼──────┼───────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┤
│ 0  │ amazing_site│ default     │ 1.0.0   │ cluster │ 9355     │ 2m     │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 62.4mb   │ user     │ disabled │
│ 1  │ amazing_site│ default     │ 1.0.0   │ cluster │ 9362     │ 2m     │ 0    │ online    │ 0%       │ 62.5mb   │ user     │ disabled │
└────┴─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴──────────┴────────┴──────┴───────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┴──────────┘

Each command name includes the version number of Node.js that was installed. In this example, the available version is Node.js 20.15.1.