Hosting NodeJs Application on Heroku Platform using Heroku CLI

In this blog, we will learn how to Host NodeJs Application on Heroku Platform using Heroku CLI. No need to leave your terminal or code editor, all from the terminal itself, huh?, pretty cool, right? Let's see how we can achive this.

Pre-requisite

• Heroku cli
• Heroku Account

Logging Into Heroku

Heroku login is required once. Enter below command in your terminal and follow up the prompt window and Authorize

heroku login

Specify the version of node

Add The version of Node.js to your package.json file:

"engines": {
    "node": "10.x"  // replace x with your node version like 10.16.2
},

Specifying a start script

create a Procfile file inside the root directory of the project and add the below code in it

web: node app.js

By default, Heroku will look into our package.json file under the scripts section and grab start command. Sometimes we won't have that defined or it will be different from what we want the server to execute. We can specify the exact command we want by creating a Procfile file.

Create Heroku App and Remote Repository on Heroku

Specify a unique name for your application, this name should be globally unique.

heroku create <app-name>

example:

heroku create todo-app-rest-backend-nodejs

​Rename Your APP - Optional

If you got random app name or if you want to rename your Heroku app then use the below command to achieve it from the terminal itself.

heroku apps:rename <new-app-name> --app <old-app-name>

​Build your app and run it locally - Optional

heroku local web

Deploying Code To Heroku

git push heroku master

Once the build and deployment is successful you will receive the url of the Hosted Application in your terminal.

If your Project has Environment Variables then Follow Below Along

Set a config variables on heroku app

Use below command for each environment variable to set all of your env variables and you are done.

heroku config:set <environment-variable-name>=<value>

Examples:

heroku config:set GITHUB_USERNAME=joesmith

heroku config:set PORT=3000

Congratulations!! You had successfully learned how to host the NodeJS application on Heroku Like a PRO