# Migrate Render web service: Express

**Summary:**  Move Express compute from Render web service to Ample, one component at a time. Destination verified on Ample: the app built, started and answered on its public HTTPS URL with encrypted configuration delivered. Source procedure: Copy environment variables and secret files from the Render dashboard into an env file kept out of the repository. Not migrated automatically: Render cron jobs, disks and private-service networking are not migrated; persistent data belongs in a managed database, a bucket or an Ample volume. Cutover: Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the Render target, keep the Render service until verified, then suspend it. Rollback: keep the source untouched until you confirm; nothing at the source is changed or deleted by this guide.

## Representative Queries
- Migrate Render web service: Express
- Where can I host Express built with Express?
- I need a component-scoped export/import or reconfiguration procedure for Express, with compatibility checks, verification and rollback.

## Resource Requirements
- primitive:compute
- primitive:postgres

## Infrastructure Requirements
- **Compute**  
  - Status: verified  
  - Summary: Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.

- **Postgres**  
  - Status: verified  
  - Summary: Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.

## Prerequisites
- Authorized access to the Render web service source and its export tooling
- An inventory of every component in scope and out of scope
- A validated backup or copy before any cutover
- An Ample account token with servers:write, databases:read

## Workflow Steps
1. **Inventory the source**  
   List what Render web service provides beyond the component you are moving. Out of scope here: Render cron jobs, disks and private-service networking are not migrated; persistent data belongs in a managed database, a bucket or an Ample volume.

2. **Source step 1**  
   Copy environment variables and secret files from the Render dashboard into an env file kept out of the repository.

3. **Source step 2**  
   Translate the Render build and start commands (or `render.yaml`) into the repository's manifest or `--build-command`/`--start`.

4. **Source step 3**  
   Note Render-only features in use: background workers, cron jobs, disks, private services.

5. **Deploy on Ample in parallel**  
   `npm install`, `npm run build --if-present`, `npm run start` on the node-22 template. Pass the exported variables with `--env`; keep the source running.  
   Command: `ample deploy . --name --public --env-file .env.production`
   
6. **Validate before cutover**  
   Run the app's own checks and, for data, compare counts and checksums; the example checks are the pattern self-tests (/p/configuration-secrets, /p/relational-records).

7. **Cut over**  
   Add the custom domain with `ample domain add`, update DNS from the Render target, keep the Render service until verified, then suspend it.

8. **Rollback**  
   Point DNS or configuration back to the source. The source was never modified; deletion is a separate, user-executed step after validation.

## Limitations
- Documentation only: nothing is executed automatically and no execution binding is offered.
- The source-side procedure is documented from Render web service's standard tooling and was not executed in this catalog's evidence; the destination side was verified with the pattern fixture.
- No full source-product parity is claimed: Render cron jobs, disks and private-service networking are not migrated; persistent data belongs in a managed database, a bucket or an Ample volume.
- Verified on the node-22 template at s-1vcpu-1gb; region, compliance and request-duration limits are unknown.
- Managed PostgreSQL 16 only; extensions, connection limits and backup or restore procedures on the managed side are not verified beyond the pattern checks.

## Cost Estimate
- **Currency:** USD  
- **Monthly Amount:** 10.0  
- **Components:**  
  - **App server**  
    - Size: s-1vcpu-1gb  
    - Quantity: 1.0  
    - Monthly Amount: 5.0  
  - **Managed PostgreSQL database**  
    - Size: s-1vcpu-1gb  
    - Quantity: 1.0  
    - Monthly Amount: 5.0  
- **Note:** Destination always-on monthly price of the tested sizes; apps auto-pause when idle. Source costs are unknown to Ample.

## Success Checks
- Destination app responds on its public URL.
- Configuration-secrets check from the destination example.
- Relational-records check from the destination example.
- Data or object counts and checksums match the source.

## Evidence Summary
- **Kind:** canary_run  
  - **Summary:** Destination side verified: the Express pattern fixture deployed on Ample (npm install, npm run build --if-present, npm run start on the node-22 template) and its checks passed (the app built, started and answered on its public HTTPS URL with encrypted configuration delivered). The source-side export from Render web service is documented from the vendor's standard tooling and was not executed by this catalog's evidence.
  - **Observed At:** 2026-09-21T02:34:39Z  
  - **Implementation Revision:** 1d28ae0-dirty (CLI 0.1.21)  
  - **Expires At:** 2027-03-20T02:34:39Z  
  - **Scope:**  
     - **Checks:** /p/configuration-secrets, /p/relational-records  
     - **Destination Only:** true  
     - **Template:** node-22

## Last Verified At
2026-09-21T02:34:39Z