Caddy Node.js Plugin

The Caddy Node.js Plugin allows you to run serverless Node.js applications with Caddy, by managing the lifecycle of your Node.js HTTP server instances within isolated Docker containers. It starts a new server instance when needed, stops it after a specified idle timeout, and proxies incoming requests to the running instance.

It automatically starts and stops Node.js instances based on incoming requests and provides a simple configuration interface to manage your Node.js applications.

Features

Reverse proxy for Node.js applications
Automatically starts a new Node.js HTTP server instance within a Docker container when needed
Proxies incoming requests to the running Node.js server instance
Stops the server instance and removes the Docker container after a specified idle timeout
Support for multiple instances of Node.js applications with different configurations
Lightweight and easy to integrate with existing Caddy configurations
Enhanced security and isolation using Docker containers

Prerequisites

Installation

To use the Caddy Node.js plugin, you need to build a custom Caddy binary with the plugin included. You can do this using the xcaddy tool:

Install xcaddy if you haven't already:

go get -u github.com/caddyserver/xcaddy/cmd/xcaddy

Build a custom Caddy binary with the Caddy Node.js plugin:

xcaddy build --with github.com/maxali/caddy-nodejs

This will create a new caddy binary in the current directory with the Node.js plugin included.

Usage

In your Caddyfile, you can configure the Node.js plugin using the nodejs directive. The basic configuration requires the path to your Node.js application file and an optional port number.

Here's an example Caddyfile:

http://localhost:8080 {
    route {
        nodejs {
                app /path/to/your/nodejs/app
                entrypoint node
                command server.js
                port 3000
        }
    }
}

In this example, the plugin will start a Node.js application at /path/to/your/nodejs/app.js on port 3000 and reverse proxy requests from http://localhost:8080 to the Node.js application.

You can also configure multiple instances of Node.js applications, each with its own configuration:

http://localhost:8080 {
    route {
        nodejs {
                app /path/to/your/nodejs/app1
                entrypoint node
                command server.js
                port 3000
        }
    }
}

http://localhost:8081 {
    route {
        nodejs {
                app /path/to/your/nodejs/app2
                entrypoint node
                command server.js
                port 3001
        }
    }
}

In this example, two separate Node.js applications will be started and proxied to different ports.

Configuration Options

The following options can be used within the nodejs directive in the Caddyfile:

app (required): Path to the Node.js application directory.
entrypoint (optional): The entrypoint command to run the Node.js application. Defaults to node if not specified.
command (optional): The command to start the Node.js application. Defaults to server.js if not specified.
port (optional): Port number for the Node.js application. If not specified, an available random port in the range 9000-9999 will be assigned.

Support and Contributions

If you encounter any issues or have feature requests, please open an issue on the GitHub repository. Contributions are welcome in the form of pull requests.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

maxali/nodejs-caddy