Deploy NodeJS Express on amplify

Question

I am trying to deploy an app on AWS Amplify. The app is React front and and NodeJS Express backend. The frontend works fine, but the backend is just stuck without any reasonable explanation

My YML file is

version: 1
backend:
  phases:
    build:
      commands:
        - npm run build-backend
    postBuild:
        commands:
        - cd ..
frontend:
  phases:
    preBuild:
      commands:
        - npm ci
    build:
      commands:
        - npm run build-frontend
  artifacts:
    baseDirectory: ./client/build
    files:
      - '**/*'
  cache:
    paths:
      - node_modules/**/*

build backend-script:

"build-backend": "cd server && npm run start",

npm run start script:

"start": "npm install && node index.js"

The build is getting stuck on the npm install and after 10-20 minutes just "gives up" without the following log

2021-04-22T11:49:20.693Z [INFO]: > server@1.0.0 start /codebuild/output/src650104622/src/myBlog/server
                                 > npm install && node index.js
2021-04-22T11:49:26.976Z [INFO]: > bcrypt@5.0.0 install /codebuild/output/src650104622/src/myBlog/server/node_modules/bcrypt
                                 > node-pre-gyp install --fallback-to-build

Thanks

Answer 1

I came across this thread while looking for a solution for my project. And because there are no more answers here, I'll tell you what I could find myself.

Amplify works fine with SSG web applications (Gatsby, etc.), with SSR (React, NextJS, NuxtJS, etc.) and with simple NodeJS and ExpressJS applications (which only run on requests because Amplify uses Lambda-functions to handle it). So:

• If you need a simple ExpressJS application for your API you can use the following serverless Ampl solution: https://docs.amplify.aws/guides/api-rest/express-server/q/platform/js/

• If you need a socket.io application (or another constantly running application) you need to use AWS Fargate (uses docker images) or AWS EC2 (works on simple virtual machine with access by SSH) solutions.

PS If you have any other information on this subject, please post it here.