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Error: connect ECONNREFUSED

Your Node.js app tried to connect to a server or port, but nothing is listening there. The connection was actively refused — the port is closed or the service isn't running.

Common causes

  • The database, cache, or API server your app depends on isn't running
  • Wrong host or port in your config — connecting to port 5432 when your database is on 5433
  • The service is running but on a different network interface (0.0.0.0 vs 127.0.0.1)
  • A Docker service isn't started or the container name doesn't resolve

How to fix it

  1. Start the required service (e.g. database): sudo systemctl start postgresql or docker-compose up
  2. Verify the host and port in your .env or config file match what the service is actually using
  3. Test connectivity manually: nc -zv localhost 5432 or telnet localhost 5432
  4. For Docker: make sure you're using the container name not localhost when connecting between containers

Example

Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:5432 at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (node:net:1494:16) { errno: -111, code: 'ECONNREFUSED'

Starting a Node.js API server that connects to PostgreSQL when the database isn't running

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