Deploy alejo_publisher to Render or Any Node.js Host

alejo_publisher is a standard Node.js/Express application. It compiles to plain JavaScript via tsc and runs with node. Any host that can run a Node.js process — Render, Railway, Fly.io, a plain VPS — will work. This guide covers local development first, then a Render deployment.

Local Development

Navigate to the service directory

All commands in this guide run from inside the alejo_publisher package directory.

cd function/alejo_publisher

Copy the environment file

The repository ships an .env.example with placeholder values. Copy it to create your local .env:

cp .env.example .env

Fill in your credentials

Open .env and replace the placeholder values with your actual Pusher app credentials and a chosen API key:

PORT=3000
PUBLISHER_API_KEY=tallerAlejoTestApiKey
PUSHER_APP_ID=your_pusher_app_id
PUSHER_KEY=your_pusher_key
PUSHER_SECRET=your_pusher_secret
PUSHER_CLUSTER=mt1
ALLOW_ORIGIN=*

You can find your Pusher credentials in the App Keys section of the Pusher dashboard after creating or opening an app.

Install dependencies

npm install

Start the development server

The dev script uses tsx watch, which compiles TypeScript on the fly and restarts on file changes — no separate build step needed.

npm run dev

You should see:

[alejo_publisher] listening on port 3000

Verify the service is healthy

In a second terminal, confirm the health endpoint responds:

curl http://localhost:3000/health

Expected response:

{ "ok": true, "service": "alejo_publisher" }

Deploy to Render

Connect your GitHub repository to Render

Log in to render.com, go to New → Web Service, and connect the GitHub account that hosts the AlejoTaller monorepo. Authorize Render to access the repository.

Create a new Web Service

Select the AlejoTaller repository from the list and click Connect.

Set the Root Directory

Under Root Directory, enter:

function/alejo_publisher

Render will treat this subdirectory as the project root, so package.json is resolved correctly.

Set the Build Command

npm install && npm run build

npm run build runs tsc -p tsconfig.json, which compiles TypeScript sources into the dist/ folder.

Set the Start Command

npm run start

This runs node dist/presentation/http/server.js — the compiled entry point.

Add environment variables

In the Environment section, add the following key-value pairs. All variables are required except PORT and ALLOW_ORIGIN, which have defaults.

Variable	Example value
`PORT`	`3000`
`PUBLISHER_API_KEY`	(your secret key)
`PUSHER_APP_ID`	(from Pusher dashboard)
`PUSHER_KEY`	(from Pusher dashboard)
`PUSHER_SECRET`	(from Pusher dashboard)
`PUSHER_CLUSTER`	`mt1`
`ALLOW_ORIGIN`	`https://your-operator-app.example.com`

Deploy and verify

Click Create Web Service. Render will run the build command, then start the process. Once the deploy succeeds, visit:

https://your-service.onrender.com/health

A 200 OK response with { "ok": true, "service": "alejo_publisher" } confirms the service is live.

Configure Render’s Health Check Path to /health. Render will poll this path and automatically restart the instance if it stops responding, giving you zero-downtime recovery from crashes.

Environment Variables Reference

The readEnv() function in server.ts reads all variables at startup. Missing required variables throw immediately, so a misconfigured deploy fails fast during boot rather than at runtime.

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`PORT`	No	`3000`	TCP port the Express server listens on. Render injects its own `PORT` automatically.
`PUBLISHER_API_KEY`	Yes	—	Bearer token that the operator app must send. Requests with a wrong or missing token receive `401`.
`PUSHER_APP_ID`	Yes	—	Pusher application ID, found in the Pusher dashboard under App Keys.
`PUSHER_KEY`	Yes	—	Pusher public key. Also used by client SDKs to subscribe to channels.
`PUSHER_SECRET`	Yes	—	Pusher secret key used to sign server-side trigger requests. Never expose this to clients.
`PUSHER_CLUSTER`	Yes	—	Pusher cluster region (e.g. `mt1`, `eu`, `ap2`). Must match the cluster chosen when the Pusher app was created.
`ALLOW_ORIGIN`	No	`*`	CORS allowed origins. A single `*` permits all origins. For multiple specific origins, provide a comma-separated list: `https://app.example.com,https://admin.example.com`.

The default PUBLISHER_API_KEY value tallerAlejoTestApiKey is included in .env.example for convenience during local development. This key must not be used in any production or staging environment. Generate a strong random secret (at least 32 characters) and set it as the PUBLISHER_API_KEY before deploying.

Setting ALLOW_ORIGIN=* in production allows any website to call your service from a browser. In production, set ALLOW_ORIGIN to the exact origin(s) of the operator application — for example, https://operator.yourdomain.com. Multiple origins are supported as a comma-separated list.

Scripts Reference

These scripts are defined in package.json and can be run from the function/alejo_publisher directory:

Script	Command	Use
`npm run dev`	`tsx watch src/presentation/http/server.ts`	Local development with hot reload
`npm run build`	`tsc -p tsconfig.json`	Compile TypeScript to `dist/`
`npm run start`	`node dist/presentation/http/server.js`	Run the compiled build (production)
`npm run check`	`tsc -p tsconfig.json --noEmit`	Type-check without emitting files

Run npm run check in CI before building to catch type errors early without producing build artifacts.

Android Client

Android Operator

Web Client

Publisher Function

Deploy alejo_publisher to Render or Any Node.js Host

Local Development

Deploy to Render

Environment Variables Reference

Scripts Reference

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Android Client

Android Operator

Web Client

Publisher Function

Documentation Index

​Local Development

​Deploy to Render

​Environment Variables Reference

​Scripts Reference

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Local Development

Deploy to Render

Environment Variables Reference

Scripts Reference