Why do I obtain this error when deploying app to Heroku?

Question

I am getting some kind of error when deploying my app to heroku using git hub. The problem is, I don't understand the heroku logs and the entailing errors. Here is the heroku log:

Marcuss-MacBook-Pro:Weather-App marcushurney$ heroku logs
2016-01-05T14:37:27.798077+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! Please include the following file with any support request:
2016-01-05T14:37:27.798377+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR!     /app/npm-debug.log
2016-01-05T14:37:27.786949+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! node v5.1.1
2016-01-05T14:37:27.786556+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! argv "/app/.heroku/node/bin/node" "/app/.heroku/node/bin/npm" "start"
2016-01-05T14:37:27.787856+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! npm  v3.3.12
2016-01-05T14:37:28.776245+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Process exited with status 1
2016-01-05T14:37:28.789412+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from starting to crashed
2016-01-05T17:27:16.684869+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from crashed to starting
2016-01-05T17:27:17.853743+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Starting process with command `npm start`
2016-01-05T17:27:20.423495+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! node v5.1.1
2016-01-05T17:27:20.423130+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! argv "/app/.heroku/node/bin/node" "/app/.heroku/node/bin/npm" "start"
2016-01-05T17:27:20.424111+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! npm  v3.3.12
2016-01-05T17:27:20.425937+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! missing script: start
2016-01-05T17:27:20.422441+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! Linux 3.13.0-71-generic
2016-01-05T17:27:20.426242+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! 
2016-01-05T17:27:20.426432+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! If you need help, you may report this error at:
2016-01-05T17:27:20.426634+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR!     <https://github.com/npm/npm/issues>

L. Meyer · Accepted Answer · 2023-12-31 14:40:56Z

82

You have to inform heroku where to start : missing script: start. In your package.json, you should have something like this:

"scripts": {
  "start": "node index.js"
}

Where index.js is your entry point.

As an alternative, you can specify in Procfile:

web: node index.js

How to use both

If you still want to use the start script from within the Procfile:

web: npm start

In this case, you can still feature your start script from the package.json file as it is the usual way to proceed and it will be taken into account by Heroku.

edited Dec 31, 2023 at 14:40

answered Jan 6, 2016 at 16:07

L. Meyer

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10 Comments

Mjuice Over a year ago

That fixed things up!

tagh Over a year ago

@LMeyer it still doesn't fix it for me. Any ideas? I already included the start in the package.json

L. Meyer Over a year ago

@TheProgrammerG Pretty sure if you added the start, you don't have missing script: start in the logs. What do you have ?

uber Over a year ago

what if it's a typescript + node, express app?

Edison Over a year ago

What if my site has an index.html, but no index.js? Would I just write "main": "index.html", "scripts": { "start": "node index.js" } and add a starter index.js file just for Heroku? But then what about this line? res.render('pages/index')

|

Dawit Abraham · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-12 22:42:41Z

6

My silly mistake was that I was pushing the master branch to Heroku while my changes were in another branch!

Make sure that you merge your latest branch with your master branch first

> git checkout master

> git merge your-latest-branch

> git push heroku master

answered May 12, 2019 at 22:42

Dawit Abraham

1,78216 silver badges19 bronze badges

Comments

Mr.X · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-30 18:14:38Z

4

In my case, changing this:

"scripts": {
     "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
    },

to this:

"scripts": {
   "start": "node app.js"
    },

was the solution

answered Mar 30, 2017 at 18:14

Mr.X

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Comments

Zeyad Shaban · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-07 16:24:01Z

3

For some reason pushing the start script to top fixed the problem

So instead of

"scripts": {
    "test": "jest",
    "start": "node app.js"
}

I did

"scripts": {
    "start": "node app.js",
    "test": "jest"

}

answered Dec 7, 2020 at 16:24

Zeyad Shaban

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1 Comment

Miguel Over a year ago

Thanks you! Wasn't working until I tried that. Also I had to add the Procfile file with "web: node app.js"

Rahul Sonone · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-31 20:09:32Z

2

I also faced similar kind of errors for my node js app while publishing it to heroku.com

First create a procfile, procfile is a simple text file but without any extension.

Place only one line in procfile as of now.

web: npm start

Now create the package.json file using command

npm init

once your package.json file got created please place the start property inside scripts.

"scripts": {
    "start": "node app.js",
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },

now commit all (procfile/package.json) pending files. and deploy app again from heroku.

answered Jan 31, 2019 at 20:09

Rahul Sonone

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Comments

Alexey Osetsky · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-08 18:41:19Z

0

I encountered the same issue on this trying to deploy my server with heroku after several troubleshooting. The changes i made to my package.json which includes creating a start property into your script;

"scripts": {
  "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
  "start": "node app.js"
},

After making the changes, ensure your Procfile without extension has this one line;

  web: node app.js (Depends on your server file).

Then you can proceed to commit your files.

Hopefully this helps

edited Nov 8, 2021 at 18:41

Alexey Osetsky

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answered Jun 21, 2021 at 5:24

Uthman Olajide

1

Comments

demarsylvain · Accepted Answer · 2022-01-08 03:18:31Z

I was using nodemon.js so I included it in the package.json as following: "scripts"

 "scripts": {
        "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
        "dev": "nodemon index.js",
     },

But I got this Heroku error:

2022-01-06T11:51:55.044364+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Starting process with command npm start 2022-01-06T11:51:57.390306+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! missing script: start 2022-01-06T11:51:57.398106+00:00 app[web.1]: 2022-01-06T11:51:57.398334+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: 2022-01-06T11:51:57.398402+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR!
/app/.npm/_logs/2022-01-06T11_51_57_391Z-debug.log 2022-01-06T11:51:57.598054+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Process exited with status 1 2022-01-06T11:51:57.882212+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from starting to crashed 2022-01-06T11:51:57.953568+00:00 heroku[web.1]: State changed from crashed to starting 2022-01-06T11:52:00.240909+00:00 heroku[web.1]: Starting process with command npm start 2022-01-06T11:52:02.010859+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! missing script: start 2022-01-06T11:52:02.014370+00:00 app[web.1]: 2022-01-06T11:52:02.014567+00:00 app[web.1]: npm ERR! A complete log of this run can be found in: .................................etc

I found out that Heroku uses "npm start" to run our app meanwhile I didn't include it in the package.json; so included it as the following:

"scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "dev": "nodemon index.js",
    "start": "node index.js"
  },

Then restarted the git processes:

-heroku restart
-heroku git:remote -a app_name
-git add .
-git commit -am "Your commit"
-git push heroku master

And everything worked well.

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