Upstart script to run

forever.conf

#!upstart

# upstart script for nodejs+forever
# ref: https://www.exratione.com/2013/02/nodejs-and-forever-as-a-service-simple-upstart-and-init-scripts-for-ubuntu/

description "upstart + nodejs + forever"

start on startup
stop on shutdown

expect fork
respawn
respawn limit 5 30

env NODE_BIN_DIR="/usr/bin"
env APPLICATION_DIR="/path/to/app/dir"
env APPLICATION_PATH="app.js"
env PIDFILE="/var/run/app.pid"
env LOG="/var/log/app.log"
env MIN_UPTIME="5000"
env SPIN_SLEEP_TIME="2000"

script
    # Add the node executables to the path, which includes Forever if it is
    # installed globally, which it should be.
    PATH=$NODE_BIN_DIR:$PATH
    # The minUptime and spinSleepTime settings stop Forever from thrashing if
    # the application fails immediately on launch. This is generally necessary
    # to avoid loading development servers to the point of failure every time
    # someone makes an error in application initialization code, or bringing
    # down production servers the same way if a database or other critical
    # service suddenly becomes inaccessible.
    chdir $APPLICATION_DIR
    exec forever \
      --pidFile $PIDFILE \
      -a \
      -l $LOG \
      --minUptime $MIN_UPTIME \
      --spinSleepTime $SPIN_SLEEP_TIME \
      start $APPLICATION_PATH
end script

pre-stop script
    # Add the node executables to the path.
    PATH=$NODE_BIN_DIR:$PATH
    # Here we're using the pre-stop script to stop the Node.js application
    # process so that Forever is given a chance to do its thing and tidy up
    # its data. Note that doing it this way means that each application that
    # runs under Forever must have a different start file name, regardless of
    # which directory it is in.
    chdir $APPLICATION_DIR
    exec forever stop $APPLICATION_PATH
end script