Getting grunt-express to restart on changes

express, grunt-express, gruntjs, javascript, node.js

Solution

After some playing around I was able to get it working, with an annoying issue. Here's the core of the Gruntfile:

var path = require('path');

module.exports = function (grunt) {
  grunt.initConfig({
    express: {
      options: {
        port: 8000,
        hostname: '*'
      },
      livereload: {
        options: {
          server: path.resolve('./app.js'),
          livereload: true,
          serverreload: true,
          bases: [path.resolve('./public')]
        }
      }
    }
  });

  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch');
  grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-express');

  grunt.registerTask('default', ['express', 'express-keepalive']);
};

However there seems to be an issue where a different port is used every other save. If the other server reload option is working I would stick with that for the time being.

As a side note, it appears this grunt plugin also listening on the port which means the start app.js should return itself with `module.exports = app;` rather than the default express `http.createServer`. It appears both will run simultaneously as long as different ports are specified.

Problem

I'm trying to use grunt-express and grunt-watch. I would like the server to reload with I change my server file. Here is what I got. Gruntfile.js ``` var path = require('path'); module.exports = function(grunt) { grunt.initConfig({ express: { options: { port: 8000 }, load: { server: path.resolve('./app') } }, watch: { express: { files: ['app.js'], tasks: ['express:load'] } } }); grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-karma'); grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-contrib-watch'); grunt.loadNpmTasks('grunt-express'); grunt.registerTask('server', ['express:load', 'express-keepalive', 'watch']); }; ``` app.js ``` var express = require('express'); var app = express(); var server = require('http').createServer(app); app.get('/', function(req, res) { res.sendfile(__dirname + '/public/index.html'); }); exports = module.exports = server; exports.use = function() { app.use.apply(app, arguments); }; ``` When I type grunt server in the console I get: ``` Running "express:load" (express) task Running "express-server:load" (express-server) task Web server started on port:8000, no hostname specified [pid: 21115] Running "express-keepalive" task ``` The server start up fine and I can go to localhost:8000 to view my page. The watch task doesn't seem to start and when I make changes to app.js it doesn't restart. I basically want type grunt server and then when any changes happen to app.js, I want the server to restart. I've tried using the serverreload option, but I can't seem to get that to work either. I have also tried using express-restart (in place of express:livereload) in the watch:express task, but it says ``` Warning: path must be a string Use --force to continue. ```

Original source