Troubleshooting a Renode deploy

Start with the console: it shows what your process printed, and the last lines before it stopped are usually the whole answer. Then run the pre-flight check on the GitHub tab, which reads your repository and names what will break. The sections below are the failures that come up again and again, with the fix for each.

The server will not start#

It starts and immediately exits (Node.js). There is no start script in package.json, and none of the entry files the server falls back to exists. Add "start": "node <your main file>". See Node.js.

`can't open file` (Python). The entry file on the Startup tab is not in the branch. Point it at the script that starts your app. See Python.

`Cannot find module` or `ModuleNotFoundError`. A dependency is missing from package.json or requirements.txt. On Python, dependencies declared only in pyproject.toml are not installed.

The console stops mid-sentence with no error. The process reached the memory limit and was killed. There is never a message for this. The usual culprit is a build step on a small plan - build locally and commit the output, or use a larger plan.

It stops because a setting is missing. Your app expects a .env that is not there. The fetch never creates one: upload it through the Files tab into the code folder, or set the values on the Startup tab.

The server restarts again and again. Read the console for the error that ends each run. Three restarts by itself in an hour put a warning on the server's page and open a support ticket; six suspend it. Restarts you asked for are not counted.

The port is not reachable#

The console says the app is listening, but the address does not answer.

• It is bound to `localhost` or `127.0.0.1`. That is reachable from inside the container only. Bind 0.0.0.0.
• The port is hardcoded - 3000, 5000, 8000, 8080. Only the server's own port is reachable. Read SERVER_PORT (or PORT).
• It runs a development server - next dev, vite, flask run, app.run(). Those usually bind localhost and are not meant for production. Use the production server.
• You need a second port. A port that is not allocated to the server is not reachable. Add an allocation on the Network tab.
• You are using a domain. Check the domain resolves to the address on the proxy slot - see Custom domains.

The build is missing#

`next start` cannot find `.next`, or `node dist/index.js` cannot find the file. Nothing built the project. Put the build in the start script ("start": "next build && next start -H 0.0.0.0 -p $SERVER_PORT", "start": "tsc && node dist/index.js"), or build locally and commit the output.

A web hosting site shows a placeholder or a directory listing. The served folder has no index.html at its root. Commit the built dist/ folder and point the path on the GitHub tab at it. Web hosting never runs a build. See Static sites and web hosting.

The wrong Node version runs#

The Node.js version is the server's runtime image, not something your repository chooses. Pick a version under Runtime version on the GitHub tab, or the Docker image on the Startup tab, that matches engines.node in package.json or your .nvmrc. The pre-flight check warns when they differ. Native modules built for one Node major can fail to install or crash on another, and a committed node_modules built on Windows or macOS will not run at all - do not commit it.

A push did not show up#

• Restart on push is off. Restart the server yourself, or tick "Restart the server when someone pushes to this branch" on the GitHub tab.
• Pulling on every start is off and so is restart on push. Only the first start fetched the branch. Turn either switch on.
• It is a web hosting server. A restart fetches nothing there. Save the GitHub tab, or turn restart on push on.
• You pushed to a different branch from the one the GitHub tab names.

A deleted file is still there#

On images without git, and on web hosting, the branch is unpacked over the folder, so a file removed from the branch is not removed from the server. Delete it through the Files tab.

Still stuck#

Open a ticket from the panel - it reaches all staff, and attachments stay private. You can also ask on Discord or write to renodespace@gmail.com. On the Console tab, the AI purpose "Server won't start" copies a prompt with the latest console lines, which is the fastest way to hand the problem to an assistant.

Questions this does not answer? Open a ticket from the panel, or start from the overview. These pages are also available as plain text for AI assistants at /llms.txt.