node app as daemon with nvm, upstart and monit

monitrc

# /etc/monit/monitrc (excerpt)

check process node-app with pidfile /var/run/node-app.pid
    start program = "/sbin/start node-app" with timeout 5 seconds
    stop program  = "/sbin/stop node-app"
    if failed port 3000 protocol HTTP
        request /
        with timeout 3 seconds
        then restart
    if cpu > 80% for 10 cycles then restart
    if 3 restarts within 10 cycles then timeout
    group server

node-app.conf

# /etc/init/node-app.conf
description "node-app"

# used to be: start on startup
# until we found some mounts weren't ready yet while booting:
start on started mountall
stop on shutdown

# Automatically Respawn:
respawn
respawn limit 99 5

script
    export HOME="/node-app"
    echo $$ > /var/run/node-app.pid
    exec sudo -u node /bin/bash -c 'source . ~/.nvm/nvm.sh && export NODE_ENV=production && exec /node-app/.nvm/v0.6.11/bin/node /node-app/app.js' >> /var/log/node-app.log 3>&1
end script

pre-start script
    echo "[`date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%T.%3NZ`] (sys) Starting node-app" >> /var/log/node-app.log
end script

pre-stop script
    rm /var/run/node-app.pid
    echo "[`date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%T.%3NZ`] (sys) Stopping node-app" >> /var/log/node-app.log
end script