Wakeup Render

A lightweight Node.js package that keeps your Render.com servers awake by implementing mutual pinging between servers. Perfect for preventing your free-tier Render servers from going to sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity.

Features

• 🔄 Automatic mutual pinging between servers
• 📊 Built-in health check and metrics endpoints
• 🔒 HTTPS support with production-grade security
• 📝 Detailed logging with Winston
• ⚡ Smart retry mechanism with configurable parameters
• 🛡️ Security headers out of the box
• 🚀 Easy integration with existing Express apps

Installation

npm install @koding88/wakeup-render
# or
yarn add @koding88/wakeup-render

Quick Start

1. Create a .env file:

PORT=3000
PING_URL=https://your-other-server.onrender.com
NODE_ENV=production

2. Create a simple server:

require('dotenv').config();
const { createWakeUpServer } = require('@koding88/wakeup-render');

const config = {
    port: process.env.PORT || 3000,
    pingUrl: process.env.PING_URL,
    interval: 30000  // 30 seconds
};

createWakeUpServer(config);

Integration with Existing Express App

If you already have an Express application, you can run the wake-up server alongside it:

require('dotenv').config();
const express = require('express');
const { createWakeUpServer } = require('@koding88/wakeup-render');

// Your main Express app
const app = express();
app.get('/api/your-route', (req, res) => {
    res.json({ message: 'Hello from main app' });
});

// Start your main app
app.listen(4000, () => {
    console.log('Main application running on port 4000');
});

// Start wake-up server on a different port
const wakeupConfig = {
    port: process.env.WAKEUP_PORT || 3000,
    pingUrl: process.env.PING_URL,
    interval: 30000
};

createWakeUpServer(wakeupConfig);

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
port	number	3000	Port number for the wake-up server
pingUrl	string	required	URL of the server to ping
interval	number	30000	Ping interval in milliseconds
retryDelay	number	5000	Delay between retry attempts
maxRetries	number	3	Maximum number of retry attempts

API Endpoints

Health Check

GET /

Response:

{
    "status": "alive",
    "lastPing": "2024-01-20T10:00:00.000Z",
    "uptime": 3600
}

Metrics

GET /metrics

Response:

{
    "status": "running",
    "lastPingTime": "2024-01-20T10:00:00.000Z",
    "failedAttempts": 0,
    "pingUrl": "https://your-other-server.onrender.com",
    "interval": 30000,
    "uptime": 3600,
    "memory": {
        "heapUsed": 13721600,
        "heapTotal": 29876224,
        "external": 1841478
    }
}

Deployment on Render.com

1. Create two servers on Render.com

2. For Server 1, set environment variables:

PORT=3000
PING_URL=https://server2.onrender.com
NODE_ENV=production

3. For Server 2, set environment variables:

PORT=3000
PING_URL=https://server1.onrender.com
NODE_ENV=production

4. Deploy both servers
   • The servers will automatically start pinging each other
   • Each server will stay awake due to the mutual pinging
   • Monitor the status through the /metrics endpoint

Security Features

• HTTPS support with proper certificate validation in production
• Security headers:
  • X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
  • X-Frame-Options: DENY
  • X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
• Response time tracking
• Error handling with environment-aware responses

Logging

The package uses Winston for logging with the following outputs:

• Console: Colored logs for development
• error.log: Error-level logs
• combined.log: All logs

Best Practices

1. Use different ports for your main app and wake-up server
2. Set appropriate ping intervals (recommended: 30-60 seconds)
3. Monitor the /metrics endpoint for server health
4. Use environment variables for configuration
5. Enable NODE_ENV=production in production environments

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

License

MIT

Support

For support, please open an issue in the GitHub repository or contact the maintainers.