GlobalGateway

A full-stack Vite + Express application for global logistics, property management, and legal services.

Local Development

npm install
npm run dev       # starts Express + Vite dev server on port 5000

Production Build

npm run build     # Vite builds frontend → dist/public, esbuild bundles server → dist/index.js
npm start         # runs dist/index.js (static mode)

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Vercel Deployment Fix

Root Cause

The deployed site was showing Vercel's default "Congratulations" page instead of the real application due to three compounding issues:

1. Missing vercel.json — Vercel had no configuration, so it did not know the frontend build output lives in dist/public (not dist or the root). It served its own placeholder instead.
2. No serverless API entrypoint — The Express backend (server/index.ts) was a self-contained IIFE that called server.listen(). Vercel cannot import and reuse a process that starts its own TCP listener; it needs an exported handler function.
3. Module-level throw in server/replitAuth.ts — A top-level throw new Error("REPLIT_DOMAINS not provided") executed at import time, crashing the Vercel function before any request was served whenever that env var was absent.

Files Changed

File	Change
vercel.json	Created. Sets outputDirectory: dist/public, routes /api/* to the serverless function, and adds an SPA fallback rewrite so all non-file routes serve index.html.
api/index.ts	Created. Vercel serverless entrypoint — imports createApp(), caches the Express instance across warm invocations, and exports a default handler.
server/app.ts	Created. Extracted Express app creation (middleware + route registration) into an async createApp() factory, without calling listen().
server/index.ts	Refactored. Now calls createApp() from ./app, wraps it in an http.Server, and calls listen() — keeping local dev and npm start working exactly as before.
server/replitAuth.ts	Fixed. Moved the module-level throw for missing REPLIT_DOMAINS inside setupAuth(), so importing the module no longer crashes at load time.
tsconfig.json	Updated. Added api/**/* to include so TypeScript type-checks the new serverless entrypoint.

How to Redeploy on Vercel

1. Push this branch (fix/vercel-deployment) to GitHub.
2. In the Vercel dashboard, import the repository (or trigger a new deployment if already connected).
3. Vercel will auto-detect the configuration from vercel.json — no manual settings needed.
4. Set the required environment variables in Project → Settings → Environment Variables:
   • DATABASE_URL — PostgreSQL connection string
   • SESSION_SECRET — random secret for express-session
   • REPLIT_DOMAINS — comma-separated allowed domains (required for auth)
   • REPL_ID — Replit app ID (required for OIDC)
   • STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, PAYPAL_CLIENT_ID, PAYPAL_CLIENT_SECRET — payment keys
5. Click Redeploy (or push a new commit) to trigger a fresh build.
6. The frontend will be served from dist/public; API requests under /api/* are handled by the api/index.ts serverless function.