How to deploy nodejs & express to parse.com?

Question

I've developed a web app on nodejs with express as framework and jade as templating engine with the aim to deploy it to parse.com. Everything worked great locally, but now I would like to deploy the current release.

But the parse command line tool isn't working as expected (eg can't find modules) and I couldn't find a tutorial, how and what to deploy (especially to parse). I've used parse before as BaaS but not as a nodejs hosting service.

Where and how do I have to deploy following folders?

• app.js
• bin
• main.js
• node_modules
• package.json
• public
• routes
• views

Is parse able to download the node_modules if I just upload the package.json? And do I have to configure something on parse.com?

One error I always get if I want to deploy the app is following:

Update failed with Could not load triggers.
The error was Error: Module morgan.js not found
    at app.js:4:14
    at main.js:1:1

I use 'morgan' in my app.js:

var express = require('express');
var path = require('path');
//var favicon = require('serve-favicon');
var logger = require('morgan');
var cookieParser = require('cookie-parser');
var bodyParser = require('body-parser');

And it is declared in the package.json:

{
  "name": "MyApp",
  "version": "0.0.0",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node ./bin/www"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "asyncawait": "0.7.4",
    "bluebird": "2.3.11",
    "express": "4.9.0",
    "body-parser": "1.8.1",
    "cookie-parser": "1.3.3",
    "morgan": "1.3.0",
    "serve-favicon": "2.1.3",
    "debug": "2.0.0",
    "jade": "1.6.0"
  }

Answer 1

On Parse Could you can only use those few node modules that are already pre-installed, like expressjs with jade templating , some express middlewares and few other ones . There is no npm install step that would install dependencies from your package.json . That's why you've got the error about missing morgan module.

Answer 2

It's worth noting that you can create and add your "own" modules, so I'm not sure it's 100% correct to say "you can only use those few node modules that are already pre-installed."

https://parse.com/tutorials/integrating-with-third-party-services

However, it is fair to say it isn't as simple as installing a node module with npm. You'll have to write your own integration.