Node.js

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The Node.js adapter builds your application into a standalone Node.js server. This is suitable for deploying to VPS providers (DigitalOcean, Linode), PaaS (Heroku, Railway, Render), or custom infrastructure.

Usage

The Node adapter ships inside @neutron-build/core and is selected at build time via the CLI's --preset flag — no separate install needed. For a long-running Node server, use the docker preset (which produces a Node server.mjs you can run directly without containerizing).

  1. Build with the Docker preset (produces a standalone Node server):

    npx @neutron-build/cli build --preset docker

  2. Run the generated server:

    node dist/server.mjs

neutron-ts preview vs. the production artifact

npx neutron-ts preview starts a local preview server that runs SSR through the dev toolchain (Vite + your src/ files). It is convenient for a quick local check, but it is not the artifact you deploy:

  • Preview needs src/ and your dev dependencies present, and pulls Vite at runtime.
  • The deployed artifact is the preset-generated entry (e.g. dist/server.mjs from --preset docker), which bundles everything and ships no Vite — it runs from dist/ alone.

To validate what actually deploys, build with a preset and run the generated server (the two commands above) rather than relying on preview.