Node-red starts but does not respond locally in 1880 port

General
1

I cloned the repository git@github.com

/node-red.git, executed the commands npm install, npm build, and npm start using NodeJS version 20.

$ npm run start

> node-red@4.0.2 start
> node packages/node_modules/node-red/red.js

12 Jul 11:25:48 - [info] 

Welcome to Node-RED
===================

12 Jul 11:25:48 - [info] Node-RED version: v4.0.2
12 Jul 11:25:48 - [info] Node.js  version: v20.15.1
12 Jul 11:25:48 - [info] Linux 6.8.0-36-generic x64 LE
12 Jul 11:25:48 - [info] Loading palette nodes
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Settings file  : /home/antonio/.node-red/settings.js
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Context store  : 'default' [module=memory]
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] User directory : /home/antonio/.node-red
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [warn] Projects disabled : editorTheme.projects.enabled=false
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Flows file     : /home/antonio/.node-red/flows.json
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Creating new flow file
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [warn] 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Your flow credentials file is encrypted using a system-generated key.

If the system-generated key is lost for any reason, your credentials
file will not be recoverable, you will have to delete it and re-enter
your credentials.

You should set your own key using the 'credentialSecret' option in
your settings file. Node-RED will then re-encrypt your credentials
file using your chosen key the next time you deploy a change.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

12 Jul 11:25:49 - [warn] Encrypted credentials not found
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Starting flows
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Started flows
12 Jul 11:25:49 - [info] Server now running at http://127.0.0.1:1880/

Apparently, the service is running, as indicated by the response from the npm start command.

Furthermore, the netstat -tulnp command also indicates that the node-red process is listening on the default port 1880.

$ netstat -tulnp | grep 1880
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:1880            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1758419/node-red

My firewall (ufw) is disabled. I am using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble).

$ ufw status
Status: inactive

The problem is that it is not accessible via the browser.

This site can’t be reached.
Check if there is a typo in localhost.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN.

What could be happening?

2

You have a DNS issue. Try using the IP instead of "localhost" or use the loopback IP (127.0.0.1)

Question, are you intending on developing for Node-RED? (just that there are far easier ways to install and run than from source)

3

I am connecting unified-red with the intent of using it to manage users and profiles in node-red.

I tried to do it using Docker, connecting services with Docker Compose. Inside the app container, I can access MongoDB using mongosh and test the connection using telnet, but unified-red exits with 1 and gives this error: Uncaught Exception: MongooseError: Operation roles.findOne() buffering timed out after 1000ms. Therefore, I am setting up the unified-red module to understand the problems.

4

Possibly your /etc/hosts (if you have one) is missing this entry
127.0.0.1 localhost