Deploy React App to Heroku using Travis Continuous Integration

Deploy React App to Heroku using Travis Continuous Integration

by John Vincent


Posted on April 15, 2018


Deploy, as an example, the React hot-cold-enzyme application to Heroku using Travis Continuous Integration.

Heroku is not a server and so a React app will need a server to serve up the static resources.

Nginx is a good choice which is what I use for production environments. See TaskMuncher Deployment for a detailed explanation.

When using Heroku, I prefer to deploy a React app with a Node Express server mostly it is very simple to build, deploy and troubleshoot.

Final Result

My Git repository

Heroku git

App at Heroku

Development

Local: /Users/jv/Desktop/MyDevelopment/github/thinkful/hot-cold-enzyme

To build the app at Heroku it is necessary to provide package.json in the root of the project.

Notice that Heroku requires these scripts to be able to install, test and run the application.

package.json

"scripts": {
	"start": "cd server && node server.js",
	"test": "cd client && npm install && npm run prod && npm test && cd ../server && npm install && LOG_LEVEL=info mocha ./test --exit",
	"heroku-postbuild": "cd server && npm install && cd ../client && npm install --only=dev && npm install && npm run prod"
},

These scripts will instruct Travis/Heroku how to build the app.

Client App

client/package.json

"scripts": {
	"test-help": "jest --help",
	"test": "jest",
	"start": "webpack-dev-server --hot --inline",
	"help": "webpack --help",
	"build": "webpack -p",
	"prod": "NODE_ENV=production npm run build",
	"eslint_versions": "npm info eslint-config-airbnb@latest peerDependencies"
},

Start the DevServer

cd client
npm start

Test App at http://localhost:8021

Make a production build

npm run prod

makes react app files in client/dist

Run the app from client/dist

Test Using Enzyme and Jest

cd client
npm test

Server App

server/package.json

"scripts": {
"nodemon": "nodemon server.js",
"start": "node server.js",
"test": "LOG_LEVEL=info mocha ./test --exit",
"esdoc": "./node_modules/.bin/esdoc -c ./esdoc.json"
},

Start the server

cd server
npm start

or, in development

npm run nodemon

Test the app using Node Express server with static resources being served from client/dist

Review Server

server/config/routes.js

Serve index.html as /

app.get('*', (req, res) => {
	res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, '../../client/dist/index.html'));
});

server/config/middleware.express.js

Handle CORS

app.use((req, res, next) => {
	res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');
	res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Methods', 'GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS');
	res.header('Access-Control-Allow-Headers', 'Origin, X-Requested-With, Content-Type, Accept');
	if (req.method === 'OPTIONS') {
		logger.debug('Request method = "OPTIONS"');
		res.end();
	} else {
		next();
	}
});

Handle static content

app.use(express.static(path.resolve(__dirname, '../../client/dist/')));

Travis CI

For details, see Continuous Integration with Travis CI

Use

  • Github project: hot-cold-enzyme
  • Heroku project: hot-cold-enzyme

Test Heroku App

To run the app on Heroku:

https://hot-cold-enzyme.herokuapp.com/