You don't need to configure Nginx and Express to serve static files. Both are capable of doing the job independently, but it is up to you to choose.

For these examples I am assuming the same file structure provided in your question.

In both configurations, load files from / in HTML:

<script src="/main.js"></script> <!-- loads from myapp/public/main.js -->

Express as static file server, Nginx as reverse proxy

express app

const express = require('express');const app = express();app.use(express.static('public')); // notice the absence of `__dirname`, explained later on// if the request URL doesn't match anything in the 'public' folder,// it will start searching here next.app.use(express.static('some_other_folder'));// from my testing, express will automatically locate index.html if// it is in a static folder. Declaring a route is not required./* app.get('/', (req, res) => {  res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname, 'public', 'index.html'));});*/app.listen(8080);// GET / => index.html// GET /main.js => main.js

Quick side note: the use of __dirname in express.static() is not required. Under the hood (actually, it's here on line 65) , Express uses the native Node.js path.resolve(). From the docs:

The path.resolve() method resolves a sequence of paths or path segments into an absolute path.

Using path.resolve(__dirname, 'public') actually returns the same as path.resolve('public'). I am thinking that your problem was really telling Nginx to serve static files AND proxy the same requests to Express. OK, on to the rest of my answer.

Nginx configuration

server {  listen 8081; # must be different port from Express  server_name example.com;  location / {    # hand ALL requests back to express    proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;   }}

Nginx as static file server, Express as API server

Nginx configuration

server {  listen 8081;  server_name example.com;  location / {    root /path/to/website/public;    index index.html;    try_files $uri $uri/ @express; # instead of 404, proxy back to express using a named location block;    # source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/15467555/8436941  }  location @express {    proxy_pass http://localhost:8080;  }}

Express app

const express = require('express');const app = express();// actually, Nginx has already taken care of static files. You can still define other routes for API functions for example.app.get('/my/api', (req, res) => {/* query database, etc. */});app.listen(8080);

Hope this helps!

Removing the try_files directive from the nginx configuration file solved the issue for me.

app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/public')));app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, '/node_modules')));

I think those two lines are the reasons why it raises an error.Can you delete the second one and give it a try? Maybe your express app sets the primary static serving folder "node_modules" and that is why the app cannot serve your main script files.

Also, I don't think it is good idea to serve node_modules directory as static folder. I think in your setup, "bower" seems more appropriate choice as a javascript package manager.

Thanks