Node.js and Express errorExpress: “Cannot GET /path”

Why no route matched, and the fix

1. 01

   No route for that method and path

   “Express has executed all middleware functions and routes, and found that none of them responded.” Express, FAQ: How do I handle 404 responses?

   Express matches the method and the path together. A route defined with app.post('/login') does not answer a GET to /login, and a router mounted at /api does not answer /users. Check the spelling, the mount prefix and the method, and add a route for the page you open in the browser.

   app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('OK'));
   
   const api = express.Router();
   api.get('/users', listUsers);
   app.use('/api', api);   // serves GET /api/users

2. 02

   The static folder path is wrong

   “Express looks up the files relative to the static directory, so the name of the static directory is not part of the URL.” Express, Serving static files in Express

   express.static('public') is resolved from the folder you started node in, not from the file. Start the server from somewhere else, or deploy with a different working directory, and nothing is found. Build the path from the file’s folder (in an ES module, use import.meta.dirname). The folder name itself is not part of the URL.

   const path = require('node:path');
   app.use(express.static(path.join(__dirname, 'public')));
   // public/index.html is served at /, public/css/app.css at /css/app.css

3. 03

   A single-page app route on refresh

   React Router, Vue Router and similar libraries handle /dashboard in the browser, but a refresh asks the server for /dashboard, and Express has no such route. After the API routes and static middleware, send index.html for any other GET request. This form works on Express 4 and 5.

   const dist = path.join(__dirname, 'dist');
   app.use(express.static(dist));
   app.use((req, res, next) => {
     if (req.method !== 'GET' || req.path.startsWith('/api/')) return next();
     res.sendFile(path.join(dist, 'index.html'));
   });

4. 04

   Show your own 404 page

   “In Express, 404 responses are not the result of an error, so the error-handler middleware will not capture them.” Express, FAQ: How do I handle 404 responses?

   The plain Cannot GET text is the built-in fallback. A 404 is not an error in Express, so an error handler does not catch it. Add a last middleware that answers with your own page or JSON.

   app.use((req, res) => {
     res.status(404).json({ error: `No route for ${req.method} ${req.path}` });
   });

Checked against the vendor’s docs on November 7, 2026: Express: FAQ (How do I handle 404 responses?); Express: Serving static files.

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