{"id":11561,"library":"pixl-server","title":"Pixl Server Daemon Framework","description":"Pixl-server is a generic server daemon framework for Node.js, designed to provide a foundational layer for building custom server applications such as web backends. It offers essential services like configuration file loading, command-line argument parsing, and robust logging capabilities out-of-box. The core differentiator is its plug-in component system, allowing developers to extend server functionality with pre-built or custom components (e.g., pixl-server-web for HTTP serving, pixl-server-api for JSON APIs). The current stable version is 1.0.50. Based on the provided release history, it appears to follow a slow, incremental release cadence within its 1.x major version, with initial release 1.0.0. This framework enables developers to quickly set up and manage daemon processes with modular, extensible functionality.","status":"active","version":"1.0.50","language":"javascript","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/jhuckaby/pixl-server","tags":["javascript","server","daemon"],"install":[{"cmd":"npm install pixl-server","lang":"bash","label":"npm"},{"cmd":"yarn add pixl-server","lang":"bash","label":"yarn"},{"cmd":"pnpm add pixl-server","lang":"bash","label":"pnpm"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Essential for building HTTP/HTTPS servers, which is a primary use case. Often considered a de-facto standard component for creating functional server daemons.","package":"pixl-server-web","optional":false},{"reason":"Commonly used for developing JSON REST APIs, which frequently build on top of the pixl-server-web component.","package":"pixl-server-api","optional":true},{"reason":"Useful for offloading CPU-intensive tasks to worker processes, often integrated with pixl-server-web for robust web service scaling.","package":"pixl-server-pool","optional":true}],"imports":[{"note":"The core server class. Pixl-server is a CommonJS module and primarily uses `require()` for module loading.","wrong":"import PixlServer from 'pixl-server';","symbol":"PixlServer","correct":"const PixlServer = require('pixl-server');"},{"note":"Example of loading a component module. Components are typically required and passed directly into the `components` array during server instantiation.","wrong":"import { WebServer } from 'pixl-server-web';","symbol":"WebServerComponent","correct":"const WebServer = require('pixl-server-web');"},{"note":"Illustrates the pattern for including any of the many available `pixl-server-*` component modules in the server's `components` array. No variable assignment is strictly needed if directly within the array.","wrong":"import PixlServerAPI from 'pixl-server-api';","symbol":"APIComponent","correct":"require('pixl-server-api')"}],"quickstart":{"code":"const PixlServer = require('pixl-server');\nconst path = require('path');\nconst fs = require('fs');\n\n// Create dummy directories for demonstration\nconst logDir = path.join(__dirname, 'log');\nconst htdocsDir = path.join(__dirname, 'www');\n\nif (!fs.existsSync(logDir)) fs.mkdirSync(logDir, { recursive: true });\nif (!fs.existsSync(htdocsDir)) fs.mkdirSync(htdocsDir, { recursive: true });\nfs.writeFileSync(path.join(htdocsDir, 'index.html'), '<h1>Hello from Pixl-Server!</h1>');\n\nlet server = new PixlServer({\n\t__name: 'MyWebServer',\n\t__version: \"1.0.50\",\n\tconfig: {\n\t\t\"log_dir\": logDir, // Use local log directory\n\t\t\"debug_level\": 9,\n\t\t\n\t\t\"WebServer\": {\n\t\t\t\"http_port\": 8080, // Use a non-privileged port\n\t\t\t\"http_htdocs_dir\": htdocsDir, // Use local htdocs directory\n\t\t\t\"http_ip_address\": \"127.0.0.1\" // Explicitly bind to localhost\n\t\t}\n\t},\n\t\n\tcomponents: [\n\t\trequire('pixl-server-web')\n\t]\n\t\n});\n\nserver.startup( function(err) {\n\tif (err) {\n\t\tconsole.error(\"Server startup failed:\", err);\n\t\tprocess.exit(1);\n\t}\n\tconsole.log(`MyWebServer v${server.__version} started on http://127.0.0.1:8080`);\n\tconsole.log(`Serving static files from: ${htdocsDir}`);\n\tconsole.log(\"Press Ctrl+C to stop the server.\");\n\t\n\t// Handle graceful shutdown\n\tprocess.on('SIGINT', () => {\n\t\tconsole.log(\"\\nShutting down server...\");\n\t\tserver.shutdown(() => {\n\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Server shut down gracefully.\");\n\t\t\tprocess.exit(0);\n\t\t});\n\t});\n} );","lang":"javascript","description":"This quickstart demonstrates how to initialize a Pixl-Server instance, integrate the `pixl-server-web` component to serve static files, and handle graceful shutdown. It sets up a basic web server listening on port 8080, serving an 'index.html' from a local 'www' directory."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Arrange components in the `components` array according to their dependencies, ensuring foundational components are listed first.","message":"The order of components in the `components` array matters. Components that depend on others (e.g., `pixl-server-api` depends on `pixl-server-web`) must be listed after their dependencies to ensure proper initialization.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":">=1.0.0"},{"fix":"Review the configuration documentation to understand the precedence of different config sources. Use debug logging (`debug_level: 9`) to inspect the final merged configuration.","message":"Configuration can be overridden by multiple sources (config files, command-line arguments, environment variables). Understanding this hierarchy is crucial to avoid unexpected behavior, as settings can be silently overwritten.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":">=1.0.0"},{"fix":"Always include relevant components (e.g., `pixl-server-web`, `pixl-server-api`) in the server's `components` array based on the desired functionality.","message":"A basic Pixl-Server instance without any components will not perform any useful tasks. Developers must explicitly `require()` and add components to the `components` array to extend functionality.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":">=1.0.0"},{"fix":"Use a non-privileged port (e.g., 8080) for your server, or use a reverse proxy (like Nginx) to forward requests from privileged ports to your application's non-privileged port.","message":"When using `pixl-server-web` (or any component binding to a port), listening on privileged ports (below 1024, like 80 or 443) typically requires root privileges. Running Node.js processes as root is a security risk.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":">=1.0.0"},{"fix":"N/A","message":"Based on the provided release history and documentation, there are no explicitly documented breaking API changes within the 1.x major version of `pixl-server` itself. Breaking changes primarily apply to specific `pixl-server-*` components or their upstream dependencies.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"N/A (no known breaking changes in pixl-server 1.x)"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-19T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-18T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Run `npm install pixl-server-web` (or the specific missing component) in your project directory.","cause":"A required component module has not been installed via npm.","error":"Error: Cannot find module 'pixl-server-web'"},{"fix":"Change the `http_port` in your server's configuration to an available port, or stop the conflicting process. For privileged ports (e.g., 80), ensure no other web server is running.","cause":"The configured port for the server is already in use by another process.","error":"Error: listen EADDRINUSE: address already in use :::8080"},{"fix":"Verify that `http_htdocs_dir` points to the correct absolute path where your static files reside, and ensure the Node.js process has read access to that directory and its contents.","cause":"The `http_htdocs_dir` configuration for `pixl-server-web` is incorrect, or the files are missing/have incorrect permissions.","error":"Server starts but web content is not served or 404s for static files."}],"ecosystem":"npm"}