music-hub-backend

Render sleep mode: what is possible

A sleeping Render web service cannot wake itself from code running inside that same service. If the process is asleep, timers and in-process jobs are also asleep.

Working automatic options:

1. Keep the service always-on by using a paid Render instance.
2. Ping it from an external scheduler (GitHub Actions, Render Cron Job, UptimeRobot, etc.).
3. Run a separate worker/cron process that pings your web service.

Health endpoint

This API exposes a lightweight health endpoint for keepalive probes:

• GET /healthz
• GET /health (redirects to /healthz)

Use this endpoint for all keepalive traffic.

GitHub Actions keepalive

Workflow file: .github/workflows/render-keepalive.yml

Setup:

1. Open Settings -> Secrets and variables -> Actions in GitHub.
2. Add secret RENDER_BACKEND_URL.
3. Set it to either:
   • https://your-service-name.onrender.com
   • or https://your-service-name.onrender.com/healthz

The workflow runs every 5 minutes and pings /healthz.

Backend keepalive worker (for Render Cron/Worker)

A keepalive worker script is available at scripts/keepalive-worker.js.

Run locally:

KEEPALIVE_URL=https://your-service-name.onrender.com npm run keepalive:worker

Environment variables:

• KEEPALIVE_URL (required)
• KEEPALIVE_INTERVAL_MS (optional, default 240000)
• KEEPALIVE_TIMEOUT_MS (optional, default 10000)

Recommended on Render:

1. Create a separate Background Worker or Cron Job service.
2. Point it to this same repo.
3. Start command: npm run keepalive:worker
4. Set env KEEPALIVE_URL=https://your-service-name.onrender.com

This keeps the web service warm more reliably than in-process timers.