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| Order: 2 |
| Area: nodejsdeployment |
| TOCTitle: Create the application |
| PageTitle: Create the application |
| MetaDescription: |
| MetaSocialImage: |
| DateApproved: 10/5/2017 |
| ShortDescription: |
| --- |
| # Create your Node.js Application |
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| In this step, you will create a very simple Node.js application that can be deployed to the Cloud. You will use an application generator to quickly scaffold out the application from a terminal. |
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| > **Tip:** If you have already completed the [Node.js tutorial](/docs/nodejs/nodejs-tutorial.md), you can skip ahead to [Create the Website](/tutorials/nodejs-deployment/create-website.md). |
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| ## Install the Express Generator |
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| [Express](https://www.expressjs.com) is a very popular framework for building and running Node.js applications. You can scaffold (create) a new Express application using the [Express Generator](https://expressjs.com/en/starter/generator.html) tool. The Express Generator is shipped as an npm module and installed by using the npm command line tool `npm`. |
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| ```bash |
| $ npm install -g express-generator |
| ``` |
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| The `-g` switch installs the Express Generator globally on your machine so you can run it from anywhere. |
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| ## Scaffold a New Application |
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| We can now scaffold a new Express application called `myExpressApp` by running: |
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| ```bash |
| $ express myExpressApp --view pug --git |
| ``` |
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| The `--view pug --git` parameters tell the generator to use the [pug](https://pugjs.org/api/getting-started.html) template engine (formerly known as `jade`) and to create a `.gitignore` file. |
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| To install all of the application's dependencies, go to the new folder and run `npm install`. |
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| ```bash |
| $ cd myExpressApp |
| $ npm install |
| ``` |
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| ## Run the Application |
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| Last, let's ensure that the application runs. From the terminal, start the application using the `npm start` command to start the server. |
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| ```bash |
| $ npm start |
| ``` |
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| Now, open your browser and navigate to [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000), where you should see something like this: |
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|  |
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| ---- |
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| <a class="tutorial-next-btn" href="/tutorials/nodejs-deployment/create-website">I created the Node.js application</a> <a class="tutorial-feedback-btn" onclick="reportIssue('node-deployment', 'express')" href="javascript:void(0)">I ran into an issue</a> |
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