How can I correctly serve static files for a Node.js app on a subpath with Nginx and Express?

You have two main options to solve this issue:

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Option 1: Configure Parcel to Use the /nodeapp/ Base URL

When Parcel builds your app, it needs to know that it’s being served from a subpath. Updating the public URL ensures that all asset links in your built files have the correct /nodeapp/ prefix. You can do this by adding the flag when building:

BASHCopied
parcel build entry.js --public-url /nodeapp/

This tells Parcel to embed URLs that start with /nodeapp/ so that when your index.html is loaded via https://server.com/nodeapp, all assets are correctly referenced as https://server.com/nodeapp/assets/....

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Option 2: Rewrite the URL in Nginx

If you prefer not to rebuild your Node application with a different public URL, you can have Nginx remove the /nodeapp prefix before proxying the request to your Node server. Adjust your Nginx configuration like this:

NGINXCopied
server {
    server_name server.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://unix:/run/gunicorn.sock;
    }

    location /static {
        expires -1;
        alias /home/user/django/static;
    }

    location /nodeapp/ {
        rewrite ^/nodeapp/(.*)$ /$1 break;
        proxy_pass http://localhost:8001/;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

Notes on this approach:

• The trailing slash in the location (/nodeapp/) is important. It ensures that the rewrite rule strips exactly the /nodeapp prefix.
• After rewriting, when a request goes to https://server.com/nodeapp/assets/app.js, it becomes /assets/app.js for the Node service, which works if your Node app is serving assets from its root.

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Which Option Should You Choose?

• Option 1 is generally preferable because it makes your Node application aware of its public path. This approach avoids potential edge cases in rewriting.
• Option 2 is a viable workaround if you cannot or do not want to change your Parcel build configuration.

Both approaches ultimately ensure that the static assets are correctly loaded when accessing https://server.com/nodeapp.