How do I run a node.js app as a background service?

Question

Since this post has gotten a lot of attention over the years, I\'ve listed the top solutions per platform at the bottom of this post.

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Original post

Answer 1

UPDATE: i updated to include the latest from pm2:

for many use cases, using a systemd service is the simplest and most appropriate way to manage a node process. for those that are running numerous node processes or independently-running node microservices in a single environment, pm2 is a more full featured tool.

https://github.com/unitech/pm2

http://pm2.io

• it has a really useful monitoring feature -> pretty 'gui' for command line monitoring of multiple processes with pm2 monit or process list with pm2 list
• organized Log management -> pm2 logs
• other stuff:

  • Behavior configuration
  • Source map support
  • PaaS Compatible
  • Watch & Reload
  • Module System
  • Max memory reload
  • Cluster Mode
  • Hot reload
  • Development workflow
  • Startup Scripts
  • Auto completion
  • Deployment workflow
  • Keymetrics monitoring
  • API