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RefactorAI - Render Deployment Guide

This guide will help you deploy RefactorAI to Render as a single full-stack service using the included render.yaml configuration.

Architecture

RefactorAI is deployed as a single Node.js web service that:

  • Serves the React frontend as static files
  • Handles API requests on /ai/* endpoints
  • Automatically builds the frontend during deployment

Prerequisites

  1. GitHub repository with your code
  2. Render account (free tier available)
  3. Google AI API key

Deployment Options

Option 1: Blueprint Deployment (Recommended)

1. Push Code to GitHub

Make sure your code is pushed to a GitHub repository that Render can access.

2. Connect to Render

  1. Go to render.com and sign in
  2. Click "New" → "Blueprint"
  3. Connect your GitHub repository
  4. Render will automatically detect the render.yaml file

3. Configure Environment Variables

Set these in the Render dashboard for the service:

Variable Name Required Description Example
GOOGLE_API_KEY Yes Google AI API key for code review functionality AIzaSy...
NODE_ENV No Node environment (automatically set to production) production
PORT No Port number (automatically set by Render) 10000

4. Deploy

  1. Click "Apply" in the Render dashboard
  2. Render will:
    • Install backend dependencies
    • Build the frontend automatically
    • Start the single service serving both frontend and API

5. Access Your Application

Once deployed, you'll have:

  • Single URL: https://refactorai-app-[hash].onrender.com
  • Frontend served at the root (/)
  • API available at /ai/* endpoints
  • Health check at /health

Option 2: Manual Service Deployment

Deploy as a single Web Service (not static site):

Service Type: Web Service (Node.js)

Build Command:

cd backend && npm install && npm run build

Start Command:

cd backend && npm start

Environment Variables:

  • GOOGLE_API_KEY (required)
  • NODE_ENV=production

Note: No separate frontend service needed! The backend serves both API and frontend.

Getting Your Google AI API Key

  1. Go to Google AI Studio
  2. Create a new API key
  3. Copy the key and add it to your Render service environment variables

Local Development

Option 1: Full-stack development with hot reload (Recommended)

# Build frontend and start backend with nodemon
node build.js
cd backend && npm run dev

Option 2: Separate development with hot reload

# Terminal 1: Start backend with nodemon (auto-restart on changes)
cd backend && npm run dev

# Terminal 2: Start frontend with Vite dev server (hot reload)
cd frontend && npm run dev

Option 3: Production-like build

# Build frontend and start backend (no hot reload)
node build.js
cd backend && npm start

For local development environment variables:

Backend (.env in backend folder)

GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_google_ai_api_key_here
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development

Frontend (.env in frontend folder) - Only needed for separate development

VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3000

Architecture Details

  • Frontend: React + Vite (built and served as static files)
  • Backend: Node.js + Express API server (also serves frontend)
  • AI Service: Google AI (Gemini) for code review
  • Deployment: Single web service on Render

Cost Benefits

  • Single service = lower cost (one service instead of two)
  • Render Free Tier includes:
    • 750 hours/month of usage
    • Auto-sleep after 15 minutes of inactivity
    • Custom domains available

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Build Failures:

    • Check build logs in Render dashboard
    • Ensure both backend/package.json and frontend/package.json exist
    • Verify build command can access frontend directory
    • "vite: not found" error: The build script installs dev dependencies with --include=dev flag

  2. Frontend Not Loading:

    • Check if frontend/dist directory exists after build
    • Verify static file serving is working at /health endpoint

  3. API Connection Issues:

    • Test API endpoints directly: /ai/get-review
    • Check backend logs for errors

  4. Google AI Errors:

    • Ensure GOOGLE_API_KEY is valid and has proper permissions
    • Test API key locally first

Logs

Access logs through the Render dashboard:

  • Go to your service → "Logs" tab
  • Monitor real-time deployment and runtime logs
  • Check both build logs and runtime logs

Health Check

Visit /health endpoint to verify service is running:

{
  "status": "OK",
  "message": "RefactorAI Backend is running"
}

Support

If you encounter issues:

  1. Check Render documentation: render.com/docs
  2. Verify environment variables are correctly set
  3. Check service logs for error messages
  4. Test locally using node build.js first