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

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

Custom routes example

Use the onPluginsReady callback to extend Express with custom routes before the server starts:

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

await createApp({
  plugins: [server()],
  onPluginsReady(appkit) {
    appkit.server.extend((app) => {
      app.get("/custom", (_req, res) => res.json({ ok: true }));
    });
  },
});

The onPluginsReady callback also supports async operations:

await createApp({
  plugins: [server()],
  async onPluginsReady(appkit) {
    const pool = await initializeDatabase();
    appkit.server.extend((app) => {
      app.get("/data", async (_req, res) => {
        const result = await pool.query("SELECT 1");
        res.json(result);
      });
    });
  },
});

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"
      staticPath: "dist",  // optional: force a specific static directory
    }),
  ],
});