Minimal example of a gracefully restarting node.js process

minimal.coffee

express = require 'express'

gracefullyExiting = false

app = express.createServer()
app.use (req, res, next) ->
  return next() unless gracefullyExiting
  res.setHeader "Connection", "close"
  res.send 502, "Server is in the process of restarting."

realApp = app.listen 61337
process.on 'SIGTERM', ->
  gracefullyExiting = true
  console.log "Received kill signal (SIGTERM), shutting down"
  setTimeout( ->
    console.error "Could not close connections in time, forcefully shutting down"
    process.exit(1)
  , 30*1000)

  realApp.close ->
    console.info "Closed out remaining connections."
    process.exit()