Systemd Unit for autostarting NodeJS application (npm start)

This systemd unit file autostarts your NodeJS service using npm start. Place it in /etc/systemd/system/myapplication.service (replace myapplication by the name of your application!)

[Unit]
Description=My application

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
User=nobody
Group=nobody
WorkingDirectory=/opt/myapplication
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace:

• /opt/myapplication by the directory of your application (where package.json is located)
• User=nobody and Group=nobody by the user and group you want to run the service as
• Optionally you can add a custom decription instead of Description=My application

Then enable start at boot & start right now: (Remember to replace myapplication by the name of the service file you chose!)

sudo systemctl enable --now myapplication

Start by

sudo systemctl start myapplication

Restart by

sudo systemctl restart myapplication

Stop by

sudo systemctl stop myapplication

View & follow logs:

sudo journalctl -xfu myapplication

View logs in less:

sudo journalctl -xu myapplication