### Author:  [@leoj3n](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/leoj3n)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/1 "2018-10-08T04:10:24Z")
Currently, `bitcentivez` ([git](https://github.com/leoj3n/bitcentivez)) has the same problem as the original `bitcentive`, illustrated by this:
[http://bitcentive.herokuapp.com/test/test.js](http://bitcentive.herokuapp.com/test/test.js)
The web server is serving directories and files that should not be needed for the static site, which is built into `./dist`. I would prefer if the server only served files in `./dist`, but I am not sure if this is possible with the `done-ssr` and `steal` combination (`ssr`, in particular).
What configuration changes would be needed to make this work?
For instance, in my “`bitcentivez`” repo, `done-ssr-middleware` pulls the configuration for the static site from `client/package.json`, and therefore serves all of the `client` directory.
Similarly, `steal` relies on `package.json` for configuration.
Attempting to `cp client/package.json client/dist/package.json` and pointing `done-ssr-middleware` to `client/dist/package.json` doesn’t seem to work because there is an error about finding the built `./dist//index.js`.
It seems it is trying to resolve `./dist` relative to an outer directory, assuming the site is built into `./dist/dist`, and doesn’t understand or accept `package.json` being copied to `./dist`.
I haven’t been able to find the relevant `ssr` code that would be causing this, however.
I’m assuming @matthewp might have some ideas in regards to this! 👋
It might be something super simple. Thanks for any help. 🙏
---
### Author:  [@leoj3n](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/leoj3n)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2018, 4:43am UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/2 "2018-10-08T04:43:05Z")
> [@leoj3n](#):
>
> has the same problem
… **Why is that a problem?** …
Well, it’s not necessarily a “problem”, but _I am very curious if it is possible_, and _I feel it should be allowed_.
_My curiousness stems from_ wanting to expand my understanding of the frameworks; the examples must be set up the way they are for a reason, and I need help to wrap my head around they are optimal.
If it’s possible, and I think theoretically it should be, I want to prove to myself that `ssr` sites can be hosted and served in production separate from the presence of directories or files in `/client` that are used for development (such as the `node_modules` directory).
_I feel that it should be allowed_ if it is not already because, in my opinion, not serving unnecessary files is more correct, and this provides more encapsulation between development and production.
Is it allowed to serve just `./dist` using the provided `ssr` libraries? Let me know if I’ve misunderstood.
If I’m wrong, please try and acknowledge the merits of my thoughts before questioning my thinking!
Just hoping for some external input to help influence and guide me in developing a solid starter repo.
---
### Author:  [@leoj3n](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/leoj3n)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/3 "2018-10-08T05:01:53Z")
You can get an idea of what I’m on about in the OP from this commit that:
1. **Changes** `/dist/steal.production.js` **—\>** `/steal.production.js`.
2. **Adds** `&& cp ./production.html ./package.json ./dist` **to the** `build` **npm run-script**.
3. **Adds** `"client": "../../client/dist/"` **to the** `server/config/production.json`.
(Actually, don’t need to copy `./production.html` in No. 2 because of SSR…)
[https://github.com/leoj3n/bitcentivez/commit/2966115694ff587c79e92a85d76bc23b62162248](https://github.com/leoj3n/bitcentivez/commit/2966115694ff587c79e92a85d76bc23b62162248)
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### Author:  [@justinbmeyer](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/justinbmeyer)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/5 "2018-10-19T13:56:25Z")
With express, you should be able to configure it to statically serve whatever you want.
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### Author:  [@leoj3n](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/leoj3n)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2018, 11:07am UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/6 "2018-10-20T11:07:32Z")
Thanks. Yes, I was able to configure express without issue. The issue is with steal being misconfigured and breaking because it doesn’t seem to work without access to the files or folders above `./dist`.
I’m working off the bitcentive and bitballs examples the best I can, but they’re not designed to provide encapsulation of the development files from the production app files. This can be seen, for example, here:
- [http://bitballs.herokuapp.com/test/utils.js](http://bitballs.herokuapp.com/test/utils.js)
- [http://bitcentive.herokuapp.com/test/test.js](http://bitcentive.herokuapp.com/test/test.js)
So, I don’t think this has even been attempted officially by any of the existing apps you’ve worked on.
I was hoping @matthewp would chime in since he’s the steal expert, and this seems like something steal should be able to be configured to do with just a couple of settings out of the box.
---
### Author:  [@leoj3n](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/leoj3n)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2018, 7:08am UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/7 "2018-10-22T07:08:38Z")
@matthewp Hope you’re doing well.
In which repo would I open this as an issue, [steal](https://github.com/stealjs/steal/issues) or [steal-tools](https://github.com/stealjs/steal-tools/issues)?
Sorry for being such a huge noob and not knowing that. Thanks.
---
### Author:  [@matthewp](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/matthewp)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2018, 2:39pm UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/8 "2018-10-22T14:39:03Z")
You probably need to use [bundlesPath](https://stealjs.com/docs/config.bundlesPath.html) and [renderingBaseURL](https://github.com/donejs/place-my-order/blob/532aa2ef896065badf8382f6da26f54fbcea9b36/package.json#L40) to make this work. I’m guessing bundlesPath because `bundles/` and renderingBaseURL is `/`.
Alternatively you could create a folder, let’s call it `prod/` and stick your package.json and `dist/` files in there. Then you wouldn’t need any added configuration.
---
### Author:  [@leoj3n](https://forums.bitovi.com/u/leoj3n)
#### Post date: [October 26, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://forums.bitovi.com/t/solved-only-serve-dist-folder/974/9 "2018-10-26T05:00:06Z")
I think I’m going to try sticking `dist/` and `package.json` in `prod/` and see how that goes. Thanks!
EDIT:
I’m very happy that I got it working thanks to @matthewp’s help! Here’s what I had to do:
First of all, I had to update my build npm run-script like so:
```json
"build": "rm -rf ./prod && mkdir ./prod && node build && cp -r ./node_modules/events ./dist/node_modules && mv ./dist ./prod && cp ./package.json ./favicon.ico ./prod"
```
Next, I had to update my server config in [`production.json`](https://github.com/leoj3n/bitcentivez/blob/6e1e93907de65b99a8199e00f45fb231b94ab2c0/server/config/production.json#L2) to point to the new `prod` directory:
```diff
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 811797d..bab3a59 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
node_modules
client/docs/
-client/dist/
+client/prod/
diff --git a/server/config/production.json b/server/config/production.json
index f9745c5..dd7e9a5 100644
--- a/server/config/production.json
+++ b/server/config/production.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
{
+ "client": "../../client/prod/",
"port": "PORT",
"host": "bitcentivez.herokuapp.com",
"mongodb": "MONGODB_URI"
```
Images in `.stache` had the wrong URLs (like `img/blah.png` instead of `dist/img/blah.png`) so I had to update all my `![]()
` tags to use [`joinBase`](https://canjs.com/doc/can-stache.helpers.joinBase.html) like so:
```auto
}})
```
Finally, because only `.less` images were in `prod/dist/img`, I had to add a `glob` to `bundleAssets`:
```diff
diff --git a/client/build.js b/client/build.js
index dd5e573..b68b69d 100644
--- a/client/build.js
+++ b/client/build.js
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ const buildPromise = stealTools.build(
{},
{
minify: false,
- bundleAssets: true,
- }
+ bundleAssets: {
+ infer: true,
+ glob: ['img/**/*'],
+ },
+ },
);
```
Even though the build npm run-script has become kind of long, I feel this has really improved the quality of the project and it just makes way more sense to have this encapsulation, because it forces you to do things correctly like use `joinBase` instead of hard-coding your URLs. The `cp -r ./node_modules/events ./dist/node_modules` part of the build npm run-script is another separate issue raised here:
[https://github.com/stealjs/steal-tools/issues/1085](https://github.com/stealjs/steal-tools/issues/1085)
Another [now solved] issue: SSR doesn’t seem to prepend `dist/` using `joinBase` so `![]()
URLs come down 404ing until eventual client app reattachment which does prepend `dist/`.
[https://github.com/donejs/done-ssr/issues/593](https://github.com/donejs/done-ssr/issues/593)