--- title: "Framework recipe: Plain Node (Express / Fastify)" description: "The simplest SSR host: one request, one server render, one HTML response. This is the reference recipe every other host adapts." url: "https://www.contentstack.com/docs/studio/framework-recipe-node" product: "Contentstack" doc_type: "guide" audience: - developers - admins version: "current" last_updated: "2026-09-14" --- # Framework recipe: Plain Node (Express / Fastify) The simplest server-side rendering (SSR) host: one request, one server render, one HTML response. This is the reference recipe every other host adapts. > **Source of truth:** examples/node-ssr/server.tsx in the SDK repo. Continuous integration (CI) runs this example on every PR. Copy the pattern verbatim. If this doc drifts from the example, trust the example. Read [Framework recipes: SSR integration](/docs/studio/framework-recipes) first for the three-call contract and five universal rules. ## Prerequisites * Studio installed and @contentstack/studio-react in dependencies (see [install-studio](https://studio-documentation.contentstackapps.com/prompts/install-studio.html)). * All components registered at module scope (both built-ins and custom). See Rule 2 in [the shared concepts page](/docs/studio/framework-recipes#rule-2-root-import-required). * A catch-all route pattern in your HTTP layer (Rule 4). * Node 20+ (React 19 needs it for async server components). ## The recipe One file. The three calls (data, render, styles) plus metadata injection. ``` // server.tsx import express from "express"; import { renderToString } from "react-dom/server"; import { StudioComponent, getSSRStyleTags, getCompositionMetadata, renderMetadataToHtml, } from "@contentstack/studio-react"; import { sdk } from "./studio.server"; // Registry: import every registration module at server startup. // Rule 2 — a root import is required so built-ins auto-register. import "./registry"; const app = express(); // Rule 4 — one catch-all route handles every visitor URL. app.get("*", async (req, res) => { try { // 1) Data — server-side fetch, no hooks. const specOptions = await sdk.fetchCompositionData( { url: req.path, searchQuery: new URLSearchParams(req.query as Record) }, { locale: "en-us" }, ); if (!specOptions?.spec) { res.status(404).send("Not found"); return; } // 2) Render — pure React, produces the composition's DOM. const bodyHtml = renderToString(); // 3) Styles — pre-computed