Node.js dockerfile templates

dev.Dockerfile

FROM sidwood/nodejs-app

USER root

RUN apk add --no-cache tree &&\
  npm i -g nodemon

ENV NODE_ENV=development NODE_PATH=./lib:./test

EXPOSE 5858

USER node

CMD ["nodemon", "index.js"]

Dockerfile

FROM node:7.10-alpine

RUN mkdir -p /opt/app
WORKDIR /opt/app

COPY ./package.json /opt/app

RUN apk add --update --no-cache tini &&\
  apk add --virtual .build-dependencies make gcc g++ python &&\
  npm install --production &&\
  npm cache clean --force &&\
  apk del .build-dependencies

COPY . /opt/app

ENV NODE_ENV=production NODE_PATH=./lib

EXPOSE 3000

# RUN addgroup -S app && adduser -S -g app app
# USER app
USER node

ENTRYPOINT ["/sbin/tini", "--"]
CMD ["node", "index.js"]

I'd question the yarn install vs copying deps, but I don't see a way around it because we only want production dependencies there. Unless there is a prune method?

btw everything else seems reasonable.

yarnpkg/yarn#696

You could run prune as part of CI, outside the docker build, then copy the deps to the image rather than reinstall - then you wouldn't have to have all the build dependencies (as we don't have native modules).

Not sure I understand the aversion to installing dependencies in the container. As you say, it's required when building native components. What I'm trying to illustrate here is how we can install all the tools required to build native modules without keeping those tools around and bloating our docker image size.