Deploy Express

Updated: August 9, 2026

By Matic BončinaFounder

Review pending

Express is the easy case. Write your routes, point the startup file at them, and let Passenger run the app. For the underlying tool, see Node.js.

Before you begin

A Node.js app created in cPanel.
The app root contains your Express project with package.json.

Wire up the export

Edit your entry file (default `app.js`)

app.js

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.use(express.json());

app.get('/health', (_req, res) => res.json({ ok: true }));

// your routes here

module.exports = app;

Keeping an app.listen(3000) here works just as well. Passenger moves the server onto a Unix socket and ignores the port.

Install dependencies

Click Run NPM Install in the cPanel app management page.

Restart

Click Restart.

Use environment variables

Express reads from process.env. Add variables in the cPanel UI under Environment variables, then restart for them to take effect:

const dbUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
const apiKey = process.env.STRIPE_SECRET;

Common issues

POST requests return an empty body

Add the JSON parser middleware: app.use(express.json()). For form data: app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: true })).

CORS errors from a frontend on a different domain

Install cors, mount before your routes:

const cors = require('cors');
app.use(cors({ origin: 'https://your-frontend.example' }));

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Sources

How To Guides

Tools

Application Hosting

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Members Area Help

Before you begin

Wire up the export

Use environment variables

Common issues

Need a hand?

Open a ticket

Live chat

​Before you begin

​Wire up the export

​Use environment variables

​Common issues

​Need a hand?

Open a ticket

Live chat

Before you begin

Wire up the export

Use environment variables

Common issues

Need a hand?