Ecosystem File

When deploying on multiple servers or when using multiple CLI arguments, an alternative to the command line becomes more convenient for starting your apps.

The purpose of the ecosystem file is to gather all options and environment variables for all your applications.

Generate a template

Generate an ecosystem.config.js template with:

pm2 ecosystem

This will generate:

module.exports = {
  apps : [{
    name: "app",
    script: "./app.js",
    env: {
      NODE_ENV: "development",
    },
    env_production: {
      NODE_ENV: "production",
    }
  }]
}

For more information about available properties, check the ecosystem file reference.

Use your ecosystem file

Routine

Inside your source code working directory, you can add all of the applications to your process list with:

pm2 start

This will run all of the apps defined within the ecosystem.config.js generated with pm2 init.

You can also load an ecosystem from an other folder with:

pm2 start /path/to/ecosystem.config.js

Only use a specific app

Use your ecosystem file only on a specific application with the option --only <app_name>:

pm2 start --only app

Environment variables

You can declare variables for multiple environments. Each enviroment key must have this format: env_<environment-name>.

For example, the following app process can be started in two environments: development and production.

module.exports = {
  apps : [{
    name: "app",
    script: "./app.js",
    env: {
      NODE_ENV: "development",
    },
    env_production: {
      NODE_ENV: "production",
    }
  }]
}

To start this app in a particular environment, use the --env flag:

pm2 start ecosystem.config.js # uses variables from `env`
pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production # uses variables from `env_production`

Options Reference

To know more about all the options available checkout the complete option reference

Next Steps

Process Management