Express Generator ignores port setting

Question

I am using the following code to set the port to 3004 in an express generator app, right above module.exports = app;

// app.js
const PORT = 3004;
app.set('port', PORT);
app.listen(PORT, () => {
    console.log(`app listening on port ${PORT}`);
});

I tried using app.set based on this other topic: Node.js/Express.js App Only Works on Port 3000

And app.listen is suggested in the official docs.

They don't work together or in isolation. Running npm start reverts to port 3000, which crashes the app in my case since I'm using that port for another app (also express generator based).

I do not have this issue when starting from my own express app from scratch. Therefore I believe express generator is hiding the port configuration elsewhere and overriding my settings.

Does anyone know where to set the port or disable the overriding setting?

"express": "~4.16.0"

Answer 1

When you use the generator you get a bin folder In your bin folder in www is where the port is set like so:

var port = normalizePort(process.env.PORT || '3000');
app.set('port', port);

This is where you can change it...