How to setup and run ionic app and node express api within one application?

Issue

I have two separate applications one is the ionic app and other is node express api app. Is it possible to merge both in one application? Like for example when i enter npm run start it should run ionic serve and node index js both?

Solution

Typically after you finish developing your frontend you "build" it. This minifies and optimizes frontend files. For ionic: https://ionicframework.com/docs/cli/commands/build

This creates a folder(the default name can be "dist" or "build" etc). You put this folder in your backend folder, then serve it statically. For static serving check out https://expressjs.com/en/starter/static-files.html.

This way you deploy only backend, and it works. You can make api endpoint routes start with "/api" and "/" routes can be for frontend's static serving.

Answered By - srknzl