Setting up a LaunchDaemon with pm2

If you have a Node.js app running on an OS X server, you probably:

• Want it to start automatically when the system boots
• Want to use something like pm2 or forever to monitor the status of the app, log errors, and make sure it stays up

While pm2 has the ability to generate startup scripts for use with Ubunutu, Centos, and systemd, it does not work with OS X. The best approach is to use launchd, an OS X-specific daemon manager that replaces cron. It uses XML-based files for configuration. This guide will walk you through the process. Note: “xyz” is used as a placeholder for the application name throughout this guide.

Instructions

1. Create a new LaunchDaemon config file for your app - sudo vi /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.node.xyz.plist
2. Add the contents of org.node.xyz.plist, altering it with your configuration, and save (:wq) and exit
3. sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.node.xyz.plist
4. sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.node.xyz.plist
5. Find your path by typing echo $PATH
6. sudo vi /etc/launchd.conf
7. Add the contents of launchd.conf, but use whatever $PATH you just echoed, then save and exit
8. sudo shutdown -r now - this will reboot the system. If you skip this step, the changes to launchd.conf will not take effect.
9. Log back into the machine
10. sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.node.xyz.plist
11. Verify that it loaded correctly - sudo launchctl list | grep xyz. Three columns will be returned - PID, status, and label. If there is no value for PID, but there is a value for status, something went wrong.
12. If everything went according to plan, you should now be able to pm2 list and see your Node app running. If you get an error, you might need to sudo chmod 777 /Users/<<me>>/.pm2/pm2.log.