Question

NodeJS API is not running

Posted on October 28, 2024
Node.js API App Platform
Asked by Victor Abreu

Today my API stopped working. No change was made in the code since August and it was working fine.

Runtime logs show this:

[api] [2024-10-28 14:32:11] Server running on port 3000
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] undefined:1
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] <html>
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] ^
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] 
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] SyntaxError: Unexpected token '<', "<html>
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] <h"... is not valid JSON
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37]     at JSON.parse (<anonymous>)
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37]     at Response.json (file:///workspace/node_modules/node-fetch/src/body.js:149:15)
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37]     at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] 
[api] [2024-10-28 14:33:37] Node.js v20.18.0

What could be the problem? Maybe some change in Digitalocean? Maybe the problem is the new Node v20?

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Bobby Iliev

Site Moderator

• October 29, 2024

Hey Victor! 👋

Indeed, recently, DigitalOcean App Platform may have updated to Node v20, and it could be introducing some differences in how your API handles JSON parsing or external requests.

If your app is not compatible with Node v20, you can specify the Node version in your package.json file to ensure App Platform runs your app on a compatible version. Add this under engines: