This is a custom Node.js cartridge that takes care of auto-updating the Node.js and NPM versions on each build.

By default, the Node.js version is determined by querying semver.io/node/stable.

A different URL can be specified in your application's repository, in the .openshift/NODE_VERSION_URL file. For instance, you'd get the latest 0.10 (0.10.39 as of June 29, 2015) by putting this in .openshift/NODE_VERSION_URL:

https://semver.io/node/resolve/0.10.x

Because the standard OpenShift cartridge never gets updated to the latest Node.js version.

When you need a quick and unsofisticated solution to run your application on the latest Node.js version.

Go to Choose a type of application in your OpenShift Online account, paste the URL below into "Code Anything" textbox at the bottom of the page and click "Next".

http://cartreflect-claytondev.rhcloud.com/github/icflorescu/openshift-cartridge-nodejs

• The cartridge build script is using this function to check for the latest Node.js and npm versions and installs them if necessary;
• This cartridge can be scaled;
• This cartridge does not (yet?) have a hot-deploy strategy.

• Can't guarantee this cartridge is production-ready. Some people use it though (on their own responsibility).
• This is a lean cartridge. No unnecessary modules are installed. Which means that - unlike the standard Node.js cartridge - it won't install supervisor for you. You'll have to implement your own logic to auto-restart on errors. The provided application template is using cluster for that.
• The cartridge will run node --harmony start.js on start, so make sure your application entrypoint is start.js.

Q: I'm getting the error Cannot download, must be smaller than 20480 bytes while trying to deploy the cartridge to OpenShift. What am I doing wrong?

A: You're probably trying to use the URL https://github.com/icflorescu/openshift-cartridge-nodejs instead of http://cartreflect-claytondev.rhcloud.com/github/icflorescu/openshift-cartridge-nodejs. A common mistake for people not paying sufficient attention while trying to use a custom cartridge for the first time.

Since you're here, chances are you might also be interested in this custom MongoDB cartridge.

The MIT License.