Graceful Shutdown in Node.js: Stop Dropping Requests (2026)

#backend #devops #javascript #node

Graceful Shutdown in Node.js: Stop Dropping Requests

Your server gets a SIGTERM. It dies immediately. In-flight requests get 502s. Here is how to shut down properly.

The Basic Pattern

import http from "http";
let isShuttingDown = false;
const server = http.createServer(app);

async function gracefulShutdown(signal: string) {
  isShuttingDown = true;
  server.close();
  const timeout = setTimeout(() => process.exit(1), 30000);
  await Promise.all([closeDatabase(), closeRedis(), flushLogs()]);
  clearTimeout(timeout);
  process.exit(0);
}

process.on("SIGTERM", () => gracefulShutdown("SIGTERM"));
process.on("SIGINT", () => gracefulShutdown("SIGINT"));

Health Check During Shutdown

app.get("/health", (req, res) => {
  if (isShuttingDown) return res.status(503).json({ status: "shutting_down" });
  res.json({ status: "healthy" });
});