NodeJS in General and Strapi in Particular

sean

Parthian pm2 seems to be the choice for process management with Strapi:

https://strapi.io/documentation/developer-docs/latest/guides/process-manager.html

You should be able to install it into your nvm environment and use it as documented.

Parthian

sean Magic.
I'm gone a bit ninja. I've got a Strapi nodejs app running. AND I've moved my locally developed Nuxt Project into another Opalstack Nodjs App. Both were running via npm run start etc. But of course, when I closed the terminals the websites shut down.
So did this. (Strapi and nodelocplans are my apps)

npm install pm2 -g
pm2 start npm --name strapi -- run start
pm2 start npm --name nodelocplans -- run start

Websites running 'by themselves'. GREAT.

Now testing for SEO goodness using Google Search Console - View Crawled Page. This should tell me if Crawlers can make sense of Nuxt in various modes and so see the Strapi content consumed via API Fetch code on the Client.

Don't understand why Nuxt/Strapi people aren't all over this. There should be blog posts/forums/chats that explain how awesome these tools are for SEO but there seems to be a sense of "it probably works". Will report back in a day or so.
Thanks.

Parthian

sean I appear to have Schrodinger's Node/PM2.
All appears to work but when I start a new Putty Terminal PM2 and my node v14 are forgotten.
A quick google suggests that EXPORT makes things only local to the terminal running. Likewise updating a BASH script.
And removal of EXPORT updates a file in etc/environment which may be the best approach.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13046624/how-to-permanently-export-a-variable-in-linux

I assume my Node and Strapi and PM2 are running correctly it's just my observation of the 'cat' that causes the problem.

sean

Parthian your observation is correct. When you export a variable in your shell, that variable is available to that shell and all of the child processes of that shell.

When you start a new SSH session you're starting a new shell, so it doesn't inherit the environment from your existing shells or other processes.

You don't have access to /etc/environment so if you need your own environment variables to persist you can set them yourself in .bashrc or .bash_profile(the difference is explained here). You can also include them directly in scripts and even in interactive commands, eg: FOO=bar some_command_here

Parthian

sean - tried changing the bash_profile but no joy so did this in bashrc
User specific environment and startup programs. PS 1/6/2020 - added :$HOME/opt/bin for nodev14 and pm2
PATH=$HOME/opt/bin:$PATH
export PATH
Now when my terminal starts up I see $ node -v -> v14. 17.0 - job done.
Ta.

xamax

@sean

Hi Sean, I am also exploring Strapi so followed a few steps here (it seems to work with node 10.x too as I got the admin panel and all seems to work properly).

Now, I would like the app to "run by itself" so I tried what Parthian did

npn install pm2 -g

but get this error

Error: EACCES: permission denied, access '/usr/lib/node_modules'

If I drop the -g I can install PM2 but then

pm2 start npm --name myapp -- run start

does not work as pm2 command is not recognized.

Any hint?
Thank you!

sean

xamax you don't have access to install global packages, so definitely leave the -g out if you're using the system node.

After you've installed pm2, you have to add the install location to your PATH so that your shell can locate it, eg:

    export PATH=$HOME/apps/app/node_modules/.bin/:$PATH

Or, you can just use the entire path when you run it, eg:

    ~/apps/app/node_modules/.bin/pm2 start "npm run develop" --name yourstrapiapp

If you're running your own Node (as the OP did) , then -g should work, and the installed scripts should end up in on the same path as your node binary.

Parthian

@xamax
Try
pm2 start "npm run develop" --name yourstrapiapp
And possibly this has to be from the 'yourstrapiapp' folder. Not the parent node opalstack folder. Maybe.
Although I installed my own node to get to v14. So we aren't doing exactly the same.

Bonus answer in case the above doesn't help.
If you wish to change the Strapi Editor using markdown to something else e.g. CKEditor then don't follow the Docs or Blog post on the subject. Both hopelessly outdated. Just use this one.
https://github.com/Roslovets-Inc/strapi-plugin-ckeditor5

xamax

sean Parthian

Thank you both!
Not good with nodejs and did not think about the path.
Your info plus https://strapi.io/documentation/developer-docs/latest/guides/process-manager.html#configuration-file
and all appears to work as expected.

I'm testing the Strapi + Flutter so will probably have more questions (eg Strapi with Postgres/MariaDB). Is it OK to keep on posting here so that it all stays in this Strapi thread?

sean

xamax Is it OK to keep on posting here so that it all stays in this Strapi thread?

Sure, no problem 🤷 🙂

Parthian

How are you managing @xamax ?

Can you see how many nodes you are running?
Probably due to me installing my own node, I seem to have 2 running.

$ pgrep -a -f node
1234 /home/myuser/opt/bin/node /home/myuser/apps/nodeappfolder/strapiinstall/node_modules/.bin/strapi develop
12345 node /home/myuser/apps/nodeappfolder/strapiinstall/node_modules/.bin/strapi develop

The first is my installation of node v14 which Strapi needs. Running 2 nodes appears to have no ill effects, but looks wrong to me. And I've renamed the default node folder and so suspect it does nothing (or there is a big pile of error messages somewhere).

Also, I have a node folder in 'nodeappfolder' which is v14.17.0 in my latest strapi installation (yesterday) - I'm not sure if my other node installs had v10 in here. Again, this could be some weird thing that happens because I've got my own Node. Or v10 has been upgraded for new installs.

Finally, I've noticed that the node installation puts the Start in a cronjob and still references App.js

/usr/sbin/daemonize -c /home/myuser/apps/nodeappfolder -e ~/logs/apps/nodeappfolder/node_error.log -o ~/logs/apps/nodeappfolder/node_output.log -p $PIDFILE $NODE app.js

Again, I've renamed app.js as I don't want it to run, I get an error in node_error.log every 10 minutes due to the cronjob looking for it. Giving I'm using pm2 then I suspect the Start is sort of irrelevant, although it appears to be necessary to run my own Node - as below: and if v14.17 is the new default, maybe I shouldn't be doing this.

#NODE=/home/myuser/apps/umcstrapi/node/bin/node
NODE=/home/myuser/opt/bin/node

And maybe I should kill the cronjob - but maybe this is needed to 'remind' the system to use my /opt/bin/node....

Thanks
Stuart

sean

Parthian Probably due to me installing my own node, I seem to have 2 running.

if you run ps -axjf you should see your process hierarchy which should give you some idea of what's starting that extra process.

Parthian And maybe I should kill the cronjob - but maybe this is needed to 'remind' the system to use my /opt/bin/node

The environment variables that are set in your crontab are used only by the processes that your cron jobs are running.

If you're not actually using the default start script then you should remove its cron job.

xamax

Parthian
Hi Stuart, sorry for the late reply. I've been a bit overloaded lately, so had to pause using Strapi.
However, to be honest, you look way more advanced than I am, so I'm not sure what you're talking about 🙂
I will have a look at the commands you and Sean mentioned here and write back.
I am learning Flutter and read somewhere that Strapi was a good backend, that's why I've installed it. And never really used Node so far. So a lot to read and experiment with. Happy to not be alone here!
As I'm here, a wanted to ask if it is possible to run pm2 with the Develop mode...the 'start' mode works as expected.
Thanks
Massimo

Parthian

11803 22144 22144 22144 ? -1 Ssl   1001   0:00  \_ npm run develop
22144 22155 22144 22144 ? -1 Sl    1001   0:01      \_ node /home/myuser/apps/nodeapp/strapi/node_modules/.bin/strapi develop
22155 22162 22144 22144 ? -1 Sl    1001   0:06          \_ /home/myuser/opt/bin/node /home/myuser/apps/nodeapp/strapi/node_modules/.bin/strapi develop

The generic node seems to start my opt/bin/node with the same settings. When I tested earlier with 'start' mode which in strapi speak is when you can't edit the structure there was only 1 node. My guess is that Develop mode may need two instances. I'll ask over on discord/strapi (tried before but no replies).

@sean can you confirm if a Node app now comes with v14 baked in? My nodeapp/node folder appears to contain v14.17.0

sean

Parthian yes, all new Node and Ghost installs include a standalone Node v14.17 LTS.

Based on your process hierarchy I don't think you have a problem here. The child process at the bottom of the tree is the one that matters - everything above it is the chain of commands that invoked it.

Parthian

Smashing. Strapi has been working fine with the 'doubler'.

And node v14? Is v14 the new v10?

sean

Parthian And node v14? Is v14 the new v10?

14.17 is currently the active long-term-support release: https://nodejs.org/en/about/releases/

sean

xamax wanted to ask if it is possible to run pm2 with the Develop mode...the 'start' mode works as expected.

Should be possible, see here for an example.

Parthian

xamax
In one of my earlier posts.
pm2 start "npm run develop" --name yourstrapiapp

Another bonus. Look into graphql. I'd always avoided it as being yet another tech to learn to add to many dozens (no exaggeration) that are calling for my attention. But tried it in nuxt/vue and its pretty easy and efficient too I think.

Easy to install
Empty .cache (it tends to help) then from your strapi folder.
$ npm run strapi install graphql
Then stop and start using pm2.

You can then do the following to open a thing called Playground. It's a great tool to test queries.

yourdomain.com/graphql

Then commands like this to query your Strapi db. The query you test out can then be used in your frontend weapon of choice. This is a typical Articles query.

query Articles ($slug: String!) { articles (where: { slug: $slug })
   { id, Title, FeaturedImage { formats }, 
     products { ProductName FeaturedImage { url formats } 
    }  }  }

And note at the bottom of the window Query Variable to pass in the variable (in this case the url of the child page).
{ "slug": "article-1" }

xamax

Parthian

Thanks!

GraphQL is great! I originally tested it with a headless WP site...and yes it works great with Strapi!

By the way, there is this new service that you might not be aware of, https://graphcdn.io. It's a GraphQL edge cache service.

Next week I'll start playing again with Strapi.