The answer
Usually because you forgot to call response.end. Without end, the response never finishes and the client waits indefinitely. Always call response.end after sending the body, even if it is empty.
Common Mistakes When Creating a Node.js Server
Why does my Node.js server request hang?
More FAQs in Common Mistakes When Creating a Node.js Server
The request body is a readable stream. Listen to 'data' events for chunks and 'end' for completion. For JSON, concatenate chunks and JSON.parse the result. Express makes this easier with body parsing middleware.
Because another process may use that port in production. Use process.env.PORT || 3000 so the environment can set the port, which is essential for deployment platforms that assign ports dynamically.
Because the server can error on listen (port already in use). Handle the 'error' event on the server to catch these instead of crashing, which would take down your app in production.
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