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app.js

This file is the conventional entry point for a production Sails/Node.js app.

When developing on your local computer, and you run sails lift, the code in app.js is not executed. Instead, this file exists to provide an easy, out-of-the-box way to run your app without typing sails lift. This is most likely how you'll start your app in production (i.e. node app, or npm start).

For example, when you deploy to most PaaS vendors like Heroku, they will automatically detect that you're running a Sails/Node.js app and execute this file with the NODE_ENV environment variable set to production.

Whatever stage of the development lifecycle you're at, you can safely ignore app.js. It's good to go out of the box for most apps. But the code in app.js also serves as an easy-to-reference example of how to use Sails programmatically. So you might want to take a look at it if you plan on writing automated tests, scheduled jobs, manual database migrations, or administration scripts.

Want to see for yourself?

An example of this file can be found in our sample app repo, here.

Anatomy of a Sails App