Hosting a React Application on Square Cloud

​

Introduction

• Before you begin, make sure you have Node.js and npm installed on your system. If you don’t have them yet, you can download them from the official Node.js website.
• Next, you will need to create an account on Square Cloud, which can be done through the sign up page. You can use your email to create an account.
• Finally, you need to have an active paid plan on your account. You can view our plans and purchase one according to your needs here.

​

Creating a React Project

To create a new React project, run the following command:

npx create-react-app my-react-app

In the above command, my-react-app is the name of your new project. You can replace my-react-app with any desired name for your project.

create-react-app is a package available in the npm registry that sets up a new React project for you. It takes care of all the initial setup, such as creating the project directory, installing necessary dependencies, and configuring basic files.

​

Configuring the Production Environment with Serve

After having your React project created and configured, it’s time to prepare it for production. For this, we will use a library called serve. This library is a static server that can serve your React project after it has been built.

​

Installing the Serve Library

To install the serve library, navigate to your project directory in the terminal and run the following command:

npm install serve@14.2.3

This command installs version 14.2.3 of the serve library. If you want to install the latest version, you can omit the @14.2.3.

​

Configuring the Startup Script

After installing the serve library, you need to configure your project’s startup script to use serve. To do this, open your project’s package.json file and add a new script called start:prod:

"scripts": {
  "start": "react-scripts start",
  "start:prod": "serve -s build -l 80",
  ...
}

In the start:prod script, serve -s build -l 80 does the following:

• serve: This is the command to start the serve server.
• -s build: The -s option serves the build directory in single-page application mode. This means all not-found requests will be redirected to index.html. The build directory is created when you run npm run build.
• -l 80: The -l option followed by 80 tells serve to listen on port 80. Port 80 is the default port for HTTP traffic.

Now, when you want to start your project in production mode, you can run the npm run start:prod command. This command first builds your React project and then serves the built files using serve on port 80.

​

Creating the squarecloud config file

​

Configuring the START Field

In the Square Cloud configuration file, the START field is essential for customizing the startup command. If you want to build and start your application on Square Cloud, configure the START field as follows:

START=npm run build && npm run start:prod

This command will execute the “build” and “start:prod” scripts defined in your package.json:

{
  "name": "my-react-app",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "private": true,
  "dependencies": {
    "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^5.17.0",
    "@testing-library/react": "^13.4.0",
    "@testing-library/user-event": "^13.5.0",
    "react": "^18.3.1",
    "react-dom": "^18.3.1",
    "react-scripts": "5.0.1",
    "serve": "^14.2.3",
    "web-vitals": "^2.1.4"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "start": "react-scripts start",
    "start:prod": "serve -s build -l 80",
    "build": "react-scripts build",
    "test": "react-scripts test",
    "eject": "react-scripts eject"
  },
  "eslintConfig": {
    "extends": [
      "react-app",
      "react-app/jest"
    ]
  },
  "browserslist": {
    "production": [
      ">0.2%",
      "not dead",
      "not op_mini all"
    ],
    "development": [
      "last 1 chrome version",
      "last 1 firefox version",
      "last 1 safari version"
    ]
  }
}

​

Purchasing a Plan Before Uploading Your Project

Before you can upload your project to Square Cloud, it’s important to understand that you need to purchase a plan. The type of plan you choose will depend on the resources required by your application. You can view our plans here.

​

Uploading Project to Square Cloud

After preparing your project files, you can now upload them to Square Cloud and host your project.

• Dashboard Upload
• CLI Upload

​

Troubleshooting

​

Additional Resources

For more information about React and its tools, visit the official React documentation. There, you’ll find detailed guides, tutorials, and API documentation to help you make the most of React.

If you continue to experience any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team.