DefangLabs · raphaeltm · Mar 21, 2025 · Jan 20, 2025 · Jan 22, 2025
diff --git a/samples/nodejs-chatroom/README.md b/samples/nodejs-chatroom/README.md
@@ -6,16 +6,44 @@ This is a minimal chat application that shows how to use Socket.IO with Node.js
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
-Install the Defang CLI by following the instructions in the [Defang CLI documentation](https://docs.defang.io/docs/getting-started).
+1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+2. (Optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc) authenticate with your cloud provider account
+3. (Optional for local development) [Docker CLI](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
 
-## Build and run the application
+## Development
 
-If you have environment variables configured for your [own cloud account](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc), this will deploy the application to your cloud account, otherwise it will deploy to the Defang cloud.
+To run the application locally, you can use the following command:
 
-```sh
+```bash
+docker compose up --build
+```
+
+## Configuration
+
+For this sample, you will not need to provide [configuration](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/configuration). 
+
+If you wish to provide configuration, see below for an example of setting a configuration for a value named `API_KEY`.
+
+```bash
+defang config set API_KEY
+```
+
+## Deployment
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+
+### Defang Playground
+
+Deploy your application to the Defang Playground by opening up your terminal and typing:
+```bash
 defang compose up
 ```
 
+### BYOC (AWS)
+
+If you want to deploy to your own cloud account, you can [use Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/tutorials/deploy-to-your-cloud)
+
 ---
 
 Title: Node.js & SocketIO

diff --git a/samples/nodejs-express/README.md b/samples/nodejs-express/README.md
@@ -4,21 +4,46 @@
 
 This Node.js application, built with Express.js, is designed to inspect and display detailed information about incoming HTTP requests. It supports all HTTP methods and provides insights into the request path, method, headers, query parameters, and body. Note alongside your project, you should also include a package.json file that includes the relevant metadata such as package dependencies, scripts, project verrsions so that the Dockerfile can install necessary dependencies.
 
-## Essential Setup Files
+## Prerequisites
 
-1. A [Dockerfile](https://docs.docker.com/develop/develop-images/dockerfile_best-practices/).
-2. A [compose file](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/compose) to define and run multi-container Docker applications (this is how Defang identifies services to be deployed).
+1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+2. (Optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc) authenticate with your cloud provider account
+3. (Optional for local development) [Docker CLI](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
 
-## Prerequisite
+## Development
 
-1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
-2. If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc), make sure you have properly [authenticated your AWS account (optional)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-configure.html)
+To run the application locally, you can use the following command:
+
+```bash
+docker compose up --build
+```
+
+## Configuration
+
+For this sample, you will not need to provide [configuration](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/configuration). 
+
+If you wish to provide configuration, see below for an example of setting a configuration for a value named `API_KEY`.
+
+```bash
+defang config set API_KEY
+```
+
+## Deployment
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+
+### Defang Playground
+
+Deploy your application to the Defang Playground by opening up your terminal and typing:
+```bash
+defang compose up
+```
+
+### BYOC (AWS)
 
-## A Step-by-Step Guide
+If you want to deploy to your own cloud account, you can [use Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/tutorials/deploy-to-your-cloud).
 
-1. Open the terminal and type `defang login`
-2. Type `defang compose up` in the CLI
-3. Your app should be up and running with Defang in minutes!
 
 ---
 

diff --git a/samples/nodejs-form/README.md b/samples/nodejs-form/README.md
@@ -2,23 +2,48 @@
 
 [![1-click-deploy](https://defang.io/deploy-with-defang.png)](https://portal.defang.dev/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnew%3Ftemplate_name%3Dsample-nodejs-form-template%26template_owner%3DDefangSamples)
 
-This is a basic Node.js application using the Express framework to demonstrate handling a form submission. The application serves an HTML form where users can input their first name and then greets them personally upon submission. Note alongside your project, you should also include a package.json file that includes the relevant metadata such as package dependencies, scripts, project verrsions so that the Dockerfile can install necessary dependencies.
+This is a basic Node.js application using the Express framework to demonstrate handling a form submission. The application serves an HTML form where users can input their first name and then greets them personally upon submission.
 
-## Essential Setup Files
+## Prerequisites
 
-1. A [Dockerfile](https://docs.docker.com/develop/develop-images/dockerfile_best-practices/).
-2. A [compose file](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/compose) to define and run multi-container Docker applications (this is how Defang identifies services to be deployed).
+1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+2. (Optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc) authenticate with your cloud provider account
+3. (Optional for local development) [Docker CLI](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
 
-## Prerequisite
+## Development
 
-1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
-2. If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc), make sure you have properly [authenticated your AWS account (optional)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-configure.html)
+To run the application locally, you can use the following command:
+
+```bash
+docker compose up --build
+```
+
+## Configuration
+
+For this sample, you will not need to provide [configuration](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/configuration). 
+
+If you wish to provide configuration, see below for an example of setting a configuration for a value named `API_KEY`.
+
+```bash
+defang config set API_KEY
+```
+
+## Deployment
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+
+### Defang Playground
+
+Deploy your application to the Defang Playground by opening up your terminal and typing:
+```bash
+defang compose up
+```
+
+### BYOC (AWS)
 
-## A Step-by-Step Guide
+If you want to deploy to your own cloud account, you can [use Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/tutorials/deploy-to-your-cloud):
 
-1. Open the terminal and type `defang login`
-2. Type `defang compose up` in the CLI
-3. Your app should be up and running with Defang in minutes!
 
 ---
 

diff --git a/samples/nodejs-http/README.md b/samples/nodejs-http/README.md
@@ -6,16 +6,44 @@ This example shows how to build a minimal Node.js application using the [Node.js
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
-Install the Defang CLI by following the instructions in the [Defang CLI documentation](https://docs.defang.io/docs/getting-started).
+1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+2. (Optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc) authenticate with your cloud provider account
+3. (Optional for local development) [Docker CLI](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
 
-## Build and run the application
+## Development
 
-If you have environment variables configured for your [own cloud account](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc), this will deploy the application to your cloud account, otherwise it will deploy to the Defang cloud.
+To run the application locally, you can use the following command:
 
-```sh
+```bash
+docker compose up --build
+```
+
+## Configuration
+
+For this sample, you will not need to provide [configuration](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/configuration). 
+
+If you wish to provide configuration, see below for an example of setting a configuration for a value named `API_KEY`.
+
+```bash
+defang config set API_KEY
+```
+
+## Deployment
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+
+### Defang Playground
+
+Deploy your application to the Defang Playground by opening up your terminal and typing:
+```bash
 defang compose up
 ```
 
+### BYOC (AWS)
+
+If you want to deploy to your own cloud account, you can [use Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/tutorials/deploy-to-your-cloud):
+
 ---
 
 Title: Node.js HTTP Server

diff --git a/samples/nodejs-openai/README.md b/samples/nodejs-openai/README.md
@@ -2,30 +2,62 @@
 
 [![1-click-deploy](https://defang.io/deploy-with-defang.png)](https://portal.defang.dev/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnew%3Ftemplate_name%3Dsample-nodejs-openai-template%26template_owner%3DDefangSamples)
 
-## Setup
+A simple Node.js and OpenAI app deployed using Defang.
 
-This sample requires an API key to access the OpenAI API. The name of the config value is referenced in the compose.yaml file.
-To provide a value for it, you can use the Defang CLI like this:
+## Prerequisites
 
-```
+1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+2. (Optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc) authenticate with your cloud provider account
+3. (Optional for local development) [Docker CLI](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
+
+## Development
 
-defang config set --name OPENAI_KEY
+To run the application locally, you can use the following command:
+
+```bash
+docker compose up --build
 ```
 
-and then enter the value when prompted.
+## Configuration
+For this sample, you will need to provide the following [configuration](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/configuration): 
 
-## Testing
+> Note that if you are using the 1-click deploy option, you can set these values as secrets in your GitHub repository and the action will automatically deploy them for you.
 
+### `OPENAI_KEY`
+An API key to access the OpenAI API.
+```bash
+defang config set OPENAI_KEY
 ```
+
+## Testing
+Below are some useful commands for testing. 
+
+```bash
 echo "Hello" | curl -H "Content-Type: text/plain" -d @- https://xxxxxxxx/prompt
 ```
 
-or
+or alternatively,
 
-```
+```bash
 cat prompt.txt | curl -H "Content-Type: application/text" -d @- https://xxxxxxxx/prompt
 ```
 
+## Deployment
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+
+### Defang Playground
+
+Deploy your application to the Defang Playground by opening up your terminal and typing:
+```bash
+defang compose up
+```
+
+### BYOC (AWS)
+
+If you want to deploy to your own cloud account, you can [use Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/tutorials/deploy-to-your-cloud):
+
 ---
 
 Title: Node.js & OpenAI

diff --git a/samples/nodejs-react-postgres/README.md b/samples/nodejs-react-postgres/README.md
@@ -2,33 +2,58 @@
 
 [![1-click-deploy](https://defang.io/deploy-with-defang.png)](https://portal.defang.dev/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fnew%3Ftemplate_name%3Dsample-nodejs-react-postgres-template%26template_owner%3DDefangSamples)`
 
-This sample project demonstrates how to deploy a full-stack application using React for the frontend, Node.js for the backend, and PostgreSQL for the database. The project uses Docker to containerize the services, making it easy to run in both development and production environments.
+This sample project demonstrates how to deploy a full-stack application using React for the frontend, Node.js for the backend, and PostgreSQL for the database. 
 
 In this sample, we have set up the essential files you need to deploy in production using [Neon](https://neon.tech/) to host your database. We use a connection string to connect Neon to your code. By replacing the pre-configured connection string at .env and at the compose file to yours, you will be ready to deploy this sample with Neon.
 
-## Essential Setup Files
+## Prerequisites
 
-1. Download [Defang CLI] (https://github.com/defang-io/defang)
-2. (optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC] (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-configure.html) authenticated your AWS account.
-3. (optional for local development) [Docker CLI] (https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
+1. Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+2. (Optional) If you are using [Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/defang-byoc) authenticate with your cloud provider account
+3. (Optional for local development) [Docker CLI](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/)
 
 ## Development
 
-To start the development environment, run `docker compose -f ./compose.yaml -f ./compose.dev.yaml up`. This will start the Postgres container, the React container, and the NodeJS container. The development container (compose.dev.yaml) will override the production container (compose.yaml).
+To run the application locally, you can use the following command:
 
+```bash
+docker compose -f compose.dev.yaml up --build
+```
 Or run without using Docker by doing the following:
 
-1. run npm install to install the nodejs dependencies in both the `client` directory and the `server` directory
+1. run `npm install` to install the nodejs dependencies in both the `client` directory and the `server` directory
 2. create or modify the .env file in both the `client` directory and the `server` directory with localhost, or create a .env.local to override the .env file.
-3. run npm start
+3. run `npm start`
 
-## Deploying
+## Configuration
+For this sample, you will need to provide the following [configuration](https://docs.defang.io/docs/concepts/configuration): 
 
-1. Open the terminal and type `defang login`
-2. Add your connection string as a defang config value by typing `defang config set DATABASE_URL` and pasting your connection string (which should be in the format `postgres://username:password@host:port/dbname`)
-3. Update your `compose.yaml` file to replace `<YOUR_USERNAME>` with your username (which you can get by running `defang whoami`. "Tenant" is your username.)
-4. Type `defang compose up` in the CLI.
-5. Your app will be running within a few minutes.
+> Note that if you are using the 1-click deploy option, you can set these values as secrets in your GitHub repository and the action will automatically deploy them for you.
+
+### `DATABASE_URL`
+A connection to the database, which should be in the format of `postgres://username:password@host:port/dbname`.
+```bash
+defang config set DATABASE_URL
+```
+
+### `REACT_APP_API_URL`
+A URL for the React App. For this, you will need to update the `compose.yaml` file to replace `<YOUR_USERNAME>` with your username, which you can get by running `defang whoami`.
+
+## Deployment
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> Download [Defang CLI](https://github.com/DefangLabs/defang)
+
+### Defang Playground
+
+Deploy your application to the Defang Playground by opening up your terminal and typing:
+```bash
+defang compose up
+```
+
+### BYOC (AWS)
+
+If you want to deploy to your own cloud account, you can [use Defang BYOC](https://docs.defang.io/docs/tutorials/deploy-to-your-cloud):
 
 ---
 

diff --git a/samples/nodejs-react-postgres/compose.yaml b/samples/nodejs-react-postgres/compose.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ services:
       context: ./client
       dockerfile: Dockerfile
       args:
-        - REACT_APP_API_URL=https://<YOUR_USERNAME>-server--3010.prod1.defang.dev
+        - REACT_APP_API_URL=https://<YOUR_USERNAME>-server--3010.prod1.defang.dev #replace <YOUR_USERNAME> with your username
     ports:
       - mode: ingress
         target: 3000