Server plugin

Provides HTTP server capabilities with development and production modes.

Key features:

• Express server for REST APIs
• Vite dev server with hot module reload
• Static file serving for production
• Remote tunneling to deployed backends

The Server plugin uses the deferred initialization phase to access routes from other plugins.

What it does

• Starts an Express server (default host=0.0.0.0, port=8000)
• Mounts plugin routes under /api/<pluginName>/...
• Adds /health endpoint (returns { status: "ok" })
• Serves frontend:
  • Development (NODE_ENV=development): runs a Vite dev server in middleware mode
  • Production: auto-detects static frontend directory (checks dist, client/dist, build, public, out)

Minimal server example

The smallest valid AppKit server:

// server/index.ts
import { createApp, server } from "@databricks/appkit";

await createApp({
  plugins: [server()],
});

Manual server start example

When you need to extend Express with custom routes:

import { createApp, server } from "@databricks/appkit";

const appkit = await createApp({
  plugins: [server({ autoStart: false })],
});

appkit.server.extend((app) => {
  app.get("/custom", (_req, res) => res.json({ ok: true }));
});

await appkit.server.start();

Configuration options

import { createApp, server } from "@databricks/appkit";

await createApp({
  plugins: [
    server({
      port: 8000,          // default: Number(process.env.DATABRICKS_APP_PORT) || 8000
      host: "0.0.0.0",     // default: process.env.FLASK_RUN_HOST || "0.0.0.0"
      autoStart: true,     // default: true
      staticPath: "dist",  // optional: force a specific static directory
    }),
  ],
});