Static files

Serving static files

Until now, we have been using our server to send back data such as strings or json. However, we can serve whole files such as pictures or documents, too!

Public directory

Although you can put the files you'd like to serve anywhere, it's convention to put them in a folder called public

public
├── logo.png
└── logs
    └── hello.txt

Using express.static()

We instruct our express app to serve files from public using express.static().

import express from 'express'
import api from '../api/index.js'
import { errorHandler } from './errors.js'

const app = express()

// configure api
app.use(express.json())
app.use('/api', api)

// serve static files
app.use(express.static('public'))

app.use(errorHandler)
export default app

Requesting static files

Now, if we visit /logo.png or /logs/hello.txt we will get the corresponding files. Note that /public/ is not part of the url.