Migrate to the Node.js Cloud Native Buildpack

This topic tells you how to migrate your Node.js app from using a Cloud Foundry buildpack for Tanzu Application Service (commonly known as TAS for VMs) to using a Cloud Native Buildpack for Tanzu Application Platform (commonly known as TAP).

Install a specific Node Engine version

The following table compares how Tanzu Application Service and Tanzu Application Platform handle installing specific versions.

Feature	Tanzu Application Service	Tanzu Application Platform
Detects version from package.json Detects version from .nvmrc	✅	✅
Detects version from .node-version	❌	✅
Override app-based version detection	❌	Use $BP_NODE_VERSION

Tanzu Application Service: Override version detection

Specifying the version to install is not supported.

Tanzu Application Platform: Override version detection

In Tanzu Application Platform, users can set the $BP_NODE_VERSION environment variable to specify which version of the Node Engine to installed.

Example spec section from a workload.yaml:

---
spec:
  build:
    env:
    - name: BP_NODE_VERSION
       value: "20.*.*"

Heap memory optimization

The following table compares how to configure heap memory optimization in Tanzu Application Service and Tanzu Application Platform.

Feature	Tanzu Application Service	Tanzu Application Platform
Enable Heap Memory Optimization	Use $OPTIMIZE_MEMORY=true	Use $BP_NODE_OPTIMIZE_MEMORY=true

Provide npm configuration files

The following table compares how to provide npm configuration files in Tanzu Application Service and Tanzu Application Platform.

Feature	Tanzu Application Service	Tanzu Application Platform
Provide a .npmrc with the app	✅	✅
Provide a .npmrc by using service bindings	❌ Not supported	Use a binding of type npmrc containing .npmrc

Configure npm settings with sensitive data

In Tanzu Application Platform, if your npm configuration contains sensitive data, you can provide the npm configuration to the build without explicitly including the file in the application directory.

To provide your npm configuration file without including it in the directory:

1. Create the service binding as a secret. For example:

   ---
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: npmrc-binding
     namespace: my-apps
   type: service.binding/npmrc
   stringData:
     type: npmrc
     .npmrc: |
       registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/
       loglevel=warn
       save-exact=true
   

2. Use the binding in the workload.yaml. For example:

   ---
   kind: Workload
   apiVersion: carto.run/v1alpha1
   metadata:
   name: nodejs-app
   spec:
   # ...
     params:
     - name: buildServiceBindings
       value:
         - name: npmrc-binding
           kind: Secret
           apiVersion: v1
   

For more information about service bindings, see Configure Tanzu Build Service properties on a workload.

Provide yarn configuration files

The following table compares how to provide yarn configuration files in Tanzu Application Service and Tanzu Application Platform.

Feature	Tanzu Application Service	Tanzu Application Platform
Provide a .yarnrc with the app	✅	✅
Provide a .yarnrc by using service bindings	❌ Not supported	Use a binding of type yarnrc containing .yarnrc

Configure yarn settings with sensitive data

In Tanzu Application Platform, if your yarn configuration contains sensitive data, you can provide the yarn configuration to the build without explicitly including the file in the application directory.

To provide your yarn configuration file without including it in the directory:

1. Create the service binding as a secret. For example:

   ---
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: yarnrc-binding
     namespace: my-apps
   type: service.binding/yarnrc
   stringData:
     type: yarnrc
     .yarnrc: |
       registry "https://registry.yarnpkg.com"
       flat "true"
   

2. Use the binding in the workload. For example:

   ---
   kind: Workload
   apiVersion: carto.run/v1alpha1
   metadata:
   name: nodejs-app
   spec:
   # ...
     params:
     - name: buildServiceBindings
       value:
         - name: yarnc-binding
           kind: Secret
           apiVersion: v1
   

For more information about service bindings, see Configure Tanzu Build Service properties on a workload.

Build and serve a front end framework app

The Tanzu Application Platform Node.js buildpack is designed exclusively for building back end server node applications. If your app is using a front end framework that generates static content from JavaScript source code, such as React, Vue, Angular, you must use the Tanzu Application Platform Web Servers buildpack instead of the Tanzu Application Platform Node.js buildpack.

To build a front end app, set the environment variable $BP_NODE_RUN_SCRIPTS to instruct the Tanzu Application Platform Web Servers buildpack to run a specific npm or yarn script event during the build. For popular frameworks such as Angular and React, this is generally the build script.

Example spec section from a workload.yaml:

---
spec:
  build:
    env:
  - name: BP_NODE_RUN_SCRIPTS
    value: build
  - name: BP_WEB_SERVER
    value: nginx
  - name: BP_WEB_SERVER_ROOT
    value: build

For more information about using the Tanzu Application Platform Web Server buildpack, see Use the Tanzu Web Servers Buildpack in the Tanzu Buildpacks documentation.