How to install custom dependencies in parse server

Parse Server 📡
#1

I have the fallowing docker-compose file:

version: '3.9'

services:
  database:
    image: mongo:3.6
    restart: on-failure
    ports:
      - 27017:27017
    environment:
      MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME: admin
      MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD: admin
    volumes:
      - mongo_data:/data/db

  server:
    restart: on-failure
    image: parseplatform/parse-server:5.2.3
    ports:
      - 1337:1337
      - 9229:9229
    environment:
      - PARSE_SERVER_APPLICATION_ID=$SERVER_APPLICATION_ID
      - PARSE_SERVER_APPLICATION_NAME=$SERVER_APPLICATION_NAME
      - PARSE_SERVER_MASTER_KEY=$SERVER_MASTER_KEY
      - PARSE_SERVER_DATABASE_URI=mongodb://admin:admin@mongo/parse_server?authSource=admin
      - PARSE_SERVER_MOUNT_GRAPHQL=true
      - PARSE_SERVER_CLOUD=/parse-server/cloud/main.js
      - PARSE_SERVER_GRAPH_QLSCHEMA=/parse-server/cloud/schema_2.graphql
    links:
      - database:mongo
    depends_on:
      - database
    entrypoint: "node --inspect=0.0.0.0:9229 /parse-server/bin/parse-server"
    volumes:
      - parse_server_cloud:/parse-server/cloud
volumes:
  mongo_data:
  parse_server_cloud:
    driver: local
    driver_opts:
      type: none
      device: ./parse-server/cloud
      o: bind

Also, my project structure is like this:

└── parse-server
    ├── cloud
    │   ├── main.js
    │   ├── package.json
    │   ├── schema_2.graphql

Now, based on this question and this tutorial from back4app I understand that I have to add inside my of my package.json all the external dependencies that I want to have inside of my Parse Server like this:

My package.json

{
  "dependencies": {
    "meilisearch": "0.32.0"
  }
}

And after that, if I will import that based on this documentation like this inside of my main.js

const { MeiliSearch } = require('meilisearch')

Parse.Cloud.define('hello', async (request) => {
    return "some text";
});

And also run the docker-compose file like:

docker-compose up -d server

I am going to get this error message inside of my container the fallowing error message:

node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:936
   throw err;
   ^

 Error: Cannot find module 'meilisearch'
 Require stack:
 - /parse-server/cloud/main.js
 - /parse-server/lib/ParseServer.js
 - /parse-server/lib/index.js
 - /parse-server/lib/cli/parse-server.js
 - /parse-server/bin/parse-server
     at Function.Module._resolveFilename (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:933:15)
     at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:778:27)
     at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1005:19)
     at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)
     at Object.<anonymous> (/parse-server/cloud/main.js:1:25)    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1105:14)    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1159:10)    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:981:32)    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:822:12)    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1005:19) {
   code: 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
   requireStack: [
     '/parse-server/cloud/main.js',
     '/parse-server/lib/ParseServer.js',
     '/parse-server/lib/index.js',
     '/parse-server/lib/cli/parse-server.js',
     '/parse-server/bin/parse-server'
   ]
 }

Do I have to do something else or I am missing something? If any of you could help me I would be really grateful :smiley:

#2

The error says you don’t have meilisearch installed on your parse server.

You added it to package.json but apparently your container didn’t run npm install.

I’m not sure if you can add custom modules to existing parse images from docker hub.

I think you need to create your own docker image using Dockerfile if you’re planning to add custom modules. Because dockerfile runs npm install and installs custom modules, whereas docker-compose uses already built images to create a bigger container with them. But I’m not sure, still learning too.

#3

Oh… I see, so… so far there is no way that you know of in which I can do ‘npm install’ automatically via docker? What I’ve tested is that everything works fine if I am going to do this installation work manually. I did not find any other solution so far.