What should I do if a Node.js application won't start?

If your Node.js application won't start, it means Phusion Passenger isn't able to launch the application by hooking into the listen() function in your code.

There can be two causes:

• Your application has no listen() call, which means it isn't a Node.js application
• Your application has several calls to listen(), so Phusion Passenger doesn't know where to hook in. You'll need to make a few adjustments to help Phusion Passenger launch your application - see the official Phusion Passenger documentation.

Updated on: 17/07/2026