Simplest node development environment with docker

docker-compose.yml

services:
  node:
    image: node:16
    user: "node"
    command: "npm start"
    working_dir: /app
    volumes:
      - ./:/app
    ports:
      - 3000:3000

This assumes that you have a package.json file with an npm script called start.
It also assumes that a server runs on npm start on port 3000, and this port is attached to your localhost port of same number.
(A good example of this setup is create react app.)

Usage is generally like this:

• install dependencies before running: docker compose run node npm install
• run development environment: docker compose up
• install new dependencies: docker compose run node npm install [package name]
• clean up docker instances created with compose run and compose up: docker compose down