express-start

Simple utility for starting an express server with automatic port selection.

Installation:

npm install express-start
# or
yarn add express-start

Usage:

const express = require("express");
const { start } = require("express-start");

const server = express();

server.get("/", (req, res) => {
  res.send("Hello, world!");
});

start(server);
// or
start(server, 8000);

The logic for selecting a port is as follows:

1. if process.env.PORT is defined, it tries that port and fails if it's not available
2. the port parameter in start(server, port) defaults to 8000 when a falsy value or no value is provided
3. it first tries to listen on port, incrementing it until one is found that is available (8001, 8002, 8003, etc)

Console output in development (when process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production'):

App listening at http://localhost:8000/
Press Ctrl+C to quit.

In development, the URL is copied to the clipboard so you can paste it into a browser.

Console output in production (when process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production'):

App listening on port 8000
Press Ctrl+C to quit.