How to deploy Node.js and Express to AWS

Deploy a Node.js or Express server on ECS Fargate behind an Application Load Balancer in your AWS account with Ravion, including autoscaling and HTTPS.

Deploy a Node.js or Express server on ECS Fargate behind an Application Load Balancer.

Prerequisites

• A Git repository containing your application and its production build command.
• A Ravion account with your AWS account connected. Start free at Ravion signup.
• The Ravion CLI installed and authenticated. See CLI installation.

The examples use my-org/my-app as a placeholder. Replace it with your repository before applying the config.

Set up this Node.js or Express app for Ravion ECS hosting.

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Configure the deployment

Deploy a Node.js or Express server to ECS Fargate behind an Application Load Balancer. Ravion provisions the network and compute resources in your AWS account.

This example uses Railpack for the build. Use build_source: dockerfile instead when you need a custom Dockerfile.

Your npm run build command may compile TypeScript to dist. Set railpack_start_cmd to the production command in your package.json; this example uses npm start.

ravion.yaml

project:
  givenId: node-app
  name: Node app
environments:
  - givenId: production
    name: Production
    moduleInstances:
      - givenId: network
        name: Network
        type: rvn-aws-network
        version: 1.0.0
        input:
          aws_account_id: ravion-prod
          aws_region: us-east-1
          name: node-production
      - givenId: cluster
        name: ECS cluster
        type: rvn-ecs-cluster
        version: 1.0.0
        input:
          network:
            moduleGivenIdRef: network
          name: node-production
      - givenId: web
        name: Node web service
        type: rvn-ecs-web
        version: 1.0.0
        input:
          cluster:
            moduleGivenIdRef: cluster
          name: node-production-web
          build_source: railpack
          source_repo: my-org/my-node-app
          railpack_build_cmd: npm run build
          railpack_start_cmd: npm start
          container_port: 3000
          health_check_path: /health
          fargate_size:
            vcpu: 0.5
            memory_gb: 1

The ECS module adds PORT automatically. Bind Express to process.env.PORT and 0.0.0.0. Put plain runtime settings in environment_variables and sensitive values in secrets.

Apply and connect your domain

ravion project create --given-id node-app --name "Node app"
ravion project config apply node-app --file ravion.yaml --dry-run
ravion project config apply node-app --file ravion.yaml

Follow custom domains to configure DNS and TLS.

Next steps

Custom domains

Point a domain at your deployed service and manage its certificate.

Project config

Preview and apply Ravion configuration from source control.

Pipelines

Add approvals, migrations, and deployment automation.

Logs and metrics

Inspect deploy output and production health in Ravion.