Deploy me

A guestbook lets visitors leave their name and a note, then keeps every entry through refreshes and new deployments. Tokay runs it as one Web Service and preserves its SQLite data.

Last updated

You can see the page, form handling, and storage in one small server.js file. Start here when you want to understand a complete app before moving to a framework or managed database.

Runtime
Node.js
Framework
Express
Service types
Web Service
Resources
SQLite
Required secrets
None

What it does

The page opens with a welcome entry and a form for your name and note.

Press Sign the book and your message appears at the top with its author and time. The entry count updates with it.

Leave either field blank and the page asks you to fill in both without losing what you already typed.

Deploy it

Bring this folder to Tokay any way you like. Paste or upload it in the dashboard, push it with git, or hand it to your AI agent along with our agent instructions. Tokay figures out the rest.

Working in Claude, ChatGPT, VS Code, or another MCP client? Connect the Tokay MCP server and ask your agent to deploy this example. It signs in through your browser, so there is no token to paste.

New to Tokay? The getting started guide walks you through your first deploy.

Try it

  1. Add your name and a note, then refresh the page.
  2. Return to the Service page and deploy the same code again.
  3. Open the live URL. Your note is still there because Tokay preserved the SQLite file.

How it works

Want to see exactly what keeps the notes? The server writes them to a SQLite file under the persistent data directory Tokay supplies. The same file is available after the app restarts or you deploy new code.

Tokay also replicates persistent data beyond the app and takes periodic offsite snapshots. Read Files and persistent storage when you want the storage details.

Secrets

This guestbook has no secret to configure. Tokay gives the app a persistent directory for its SQLite file.

Grow from here

Try the PostgreSQL task tracker when you want a larger app with tasks, filters, and an API.

Source code

Download ZIP GitHub

package.json Raw 

{
  "name": "tokay-deploy-me",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "private": true,
  "type": "commonjs",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node server.js"
  },
  "engines": {
    "node": ">=24"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "express": "^5.1.0"
  }
}

server.js Raw 

const express = require('express');
const fs = require('node:fs');
const path = require('node:path');
const { DatabaseSync } = require('node:sqlite');

const app = express();
const bootedAt = new Date();
const dataDir = process.env.TOKAY_DATA_DIR || path.join(__dirname, 'data');

fs.mkdirSync(dataDir, { recursive: true });

const database = new DatabaseSync(path.join(dataDir, 'guestbook.sqlite'));
database.exec(`
  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS entries (
    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
    name TEXT NOT NULL,
    message TEXT NOT NULL,
    created_at TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
  )
`);

const entryCount = database.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS count FROM entries').get().count;
if (entryCount === 0) {
  database.prepare('INSERT INTO entries (name, message) VALUES (?, ?)')
    .run('Your host', 'Welcome. Sign below.');
}

app.use(express.urlencoded({ extended: false }));

const escapeHtml = (value) => String(value)
  .replaceAll('&', '&')
  .replaceAll('<', '&lt;')
  .replaceAll('>', '&gt;')
  .replaceAll('"', '&quot;')
  .replaceAll("'", '&#039;');

const page = ({ error = '', draft = {} } = {}) => {
  const entries = database.prepare(`
    SELECT id, name, message, created_at
    FROM entries
    ORDER BY id DESC
  `).all();

  const cards = entries.map((entry) => `
    <article class="entry">
      <p>${escapeHtml(entry.message)}</p>
      <footer>${escapeHtml(entry.name)} ยท ${escapeHtml(entry.created_at)} UTC</footer>
    </article>
  `).join('');

  return `<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>The guestbook</title>
  <style>
    :root { color-scheme: light; font-family: Inter, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, sans-serif; color: #20201e; background: #f5f0e8; }
    * { box-sizing: border-box; }
    body { margin: 0; }
    main { width: min(720px, calc(100% - 2rem)); margin: 0 auto; padding: 4rem 0; }
    h1 { margin: 0; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: clamp(2.6rem, 8vw, 5rem); font-weight: 500; letter-spacing: -0.04em; }
    .lede { color: #635f56; font-size: 1.1rem; margin: 0.7rem 0 2.5rem; }
    form, .entry { background: #fffdf8; border: 1px solid #d9d0c2; border-radius: 12px; }
    form { display: grid; gap: 0.9rem; padding: 1.25rem; margin-bottom: 2rem; }
    label { display: grid; gap: 0.35rem; font-size: 0.85rem; font-weight: 700; }
    input, textarea, button { font: inherit; }
    input, textarea { width: 100%; border: 1px solid #bcb2a3; border-radius: 7px; padding: 0.75rem; background: #fff; }
    textarea { min-height: 7rem; resize: vertical; }
    button { justify-self: start; border: 0; border-radius: 7px; padding: 0.7rem 1rem; color: #fff; background: #20201e; cursor: pointer; }
    .error { margin: 0; color: #a01933; }
    .count { color: #635f56; font-size: 0.9rem; }
    .entries { display: grid; gap: 0.8rem; }
    .entry { padding: 1.1rem 1.25rem; }
    .entry p { margin: 0 0 0.75rem; white-space: pre-wrap; }
    .entry footer { color: #777065; font-size: 0.8rem; }
    .boot { margin-top: 2.5rem; color: #777065; font-size: 0.8rem; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <main>
    <h1>The guestbook</h1>
    <p class="lede">Leave a note for whoever arrives next.</p>
    <form action="/sign" method="post">
      ${error ? `<p class="error">${escapeHtml(error)}</p>` : ''}
      <label>Your name<input name="name" maxlength="60" required value="${escapeHtml(draft.name || '')}"></label>
      <label>Your note<textarea name="message" maxlength="500" required>${escapeHtml(draft.message || '')}</textarea></label>
      <button type="submit">Sign the book</button>
    </form>
    <p class="count">${entries.length} ${entries.length === 1 ? 'entry' : 'entries'}</p>
    <section class="entries">${cards}</section>
    <p class="boot">Running since ${escapeHtml(bootedAt.toISOString())}</p>
  </main>
</body>
</html>`;
};

app.get('/health', (_request, response) => response.json({ ok: true }));

app.get('/', (_request, response) => response.type('html').send(page()));

app.post('/sign', (request, response) => {
  const name = String(request.body.name || '').trim();
  const message = String(request.body.message || '').trim();

  if (!name || !message) {
    return response.status(400).type('html').send(page({
      error: 'Add your name and a note.',
      draft: { name, message },
    }));
  }

  database.prepare('INSERT INTO entries (name, message) VALUES (?, ?)')
    .run(name.slice(0, 60), message.slice(0, 500));
  return response.redirect(303, '/');
});

const port = Number(process.env.PORT || 3000);
const server = app.listen(port, '0.0.0.0', () => {
  console.log(`Guestbook listening on port ${port}`);
});

const shutdown = () => server.close(() => {
  database.close();
  process.exit(0);
});

process.on('SIGTERM', shutdown);
process.on('SIGINT', shutdown);

Built from revision 52c7b7f

Guide: Deploy an app that uses SQLite