docker

What this skill does

# Docker Containerization Skill

## Summary
Docker provides containerization for packaging applications with their dependencies into isolated, portable units. Containers ensure consistency across development, testing, and production environments, eliminating "works on my machine" problems.

## When to Use
- **Local Development**: Consistent dev environments across team members
- **CI/CD Pipelines**: Reproducible build and test environments
- **Microservices**: Isolated services with independent scaling
- **Production Deployment**: Portable applications across cloud providers
- **Database/Service Testing**: Ephemeral databases for integration tests
- **Legacy Application Isolation**: Run incompatible dependencies side-by-side

## Quick Start

### 1. Create Dockerfile
```dockerfile
FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]
```

### 2. Build Image
```bash
docker build -t myapp:1.0 .
```

### 3. Run Container
```bash
docker run -p 3000:3000 myapp:1.0
```

---

## Core Concepts

### Images vs Containers
- **Image**: Read-only template with application code, runtime, and dependencies
- **Container**: Running instance of an image with writable layer
- **Registry**: Storage for images (Docker Hub, GitHub Container Registry)

### Layers and Caching
Each Dockerfile instruction creates a layer. Docker caches unchanged layers for faster builds.

```dockerfile
# GOOD: Dependencies change less frequently than code
FROM python:3.11-slim
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt  # Cached unless requirements.txt changes
COPY . .                              # Rebuild only when code changes

# BAD: Invalidates cache on every code change
FROM python:3.11-slim
COPY . .                              # Changes frequently
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt  # Reinstalls on every build
```

### Volumes
Persistent data storage that survives container restarts.

```bash
# Named volume (managed by Docker)
docker run -v mydata:/app/data myapp

# Bind mount (host directory)
docker run -v $(pwd)/data:/app/data myapp

# Anonymous volume (temporary)
docker run -v /app/data myapp
```

### Networks
Containers communicate through Docker networks.

```bash
# Create network
docker network create mynetwork

# Run containers on network
docker run --network mynetwork --name db postgres
docker run --network mynetwork --name app myapp
# App can connect to db using hostname "db"
```

---

## Dockerfile Basics

### Essential Instructions

```dockerfile
# Base image
FROM node:18-alpine

# Metadata
LABEL maintainer="[email protected]"
LABEL version="1.0"

# Set working directory
WORKDIR /app

# Copy files
COPY package*.json ./
COPY src/ ./src/

# Run commands (creates layer)
RUN npm ci --only=production

# Set environment variables
ENV NODE_ENV=production
ENV PORT=3000

# Expose ports (documentation only)
EXPOSE 3000

# Default command
CMD ["node", "src/server.js"]

# Alternative: ENTRYPOINT (not overridden by docker run args)
ENTRYPOINT ["node"]
CMD ["src/server.js"]  # Default args for ENTRYPOINT
```

### Instruction Order for Cache Efficiency

```dockerfile
# 1. Base image (rarely changes)
FROM python:3.11-slim

# 2. System dependencies (rarely change)
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    gcc \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# 3. Application dependencies (change occasionally)
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

# 4. Application code (changes frequently)
COPY . .

# 5. Runtime configuration
ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["python", "manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]
```

### .dockerignore
Exclude files from build context (faster builds, smaller images).

```
# .dockerignore
node_modules/
npm-debug.log
.git/
.gitignore
*.md
.env
.vscode/
__pycache__/
*.pyc
.pytest_cache/
coverage/
dist/
build/
```

---

## Multi-Stage Builds

Optimize image size by separating build and runtime stages.

### Node.js TypeScript Example

```dockerfile
# Build stage
FROM node:18-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Production stage
FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "dist/server.js"]
```

**Benefits**:
- Build dependencies (TypeScript, webpack) excluded from final image
- Final image: ~50MB vs ~500MB with build tools
- Faster deployments and reduced attack surface

### Python Example

```dockerfile
# Build stage
FROM python:3.11 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --user --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

# Runtime stage
FROM python:3.11-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /root/.local /root/.local
COPY . .
ENV PATH=/root/.local/bin:$PATH
CMD ["python", "app.py"]
```

### Go Example (Smallest Images)

```dockerfile
# Build stage
FROM golang:1.21-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY go.* ./
RUN go mod download
COPY . .
RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 GOOS=linux go build -o server

# Runtime stage (scratch = empty base image)
FROM scratch
COPY --from=builder /app/server /server
EXPOSE 8080
ENTRYPOINT ["/server"]
```

Result: ~10MB final image containing only the compiled binary.

---

## Docker Compose

Define multi-container applications in YAML.

### Basic Structure

```yaml
version: '3.8'

services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://db:5432/myapp
    depends_on:
      - db
    volumes:
      - ./src:/app/src  # Hot reload in development

  db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secret
      POSTGRES_DB: myapp
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"

volumes:
  db_data:
```

### Commands

```bash
# Start all services
docker-compose up

# Start in background
docker-compose up -d

# Rebuild images
docker-compose up --build

# Stop services
docker-compose down

# Stop and remove volumes
docker-compose down -v

# View logs
docker-compose logs -f app

# Run one-off command
docker-compose run app npm test
```

### Full Stack Example

```yaml
version: '3.8'

services:
  # Frontend
  web:
    build:
      context: ./frontend
      dockerfile: Dockerfile.dev
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./frontend/src:/app/src
    environment:
      - REACT_APP_API_URL=http://localhost:8000

  # Backend API
  api:
    build: ./backend
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:secret@db:5432/myapp
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_started
    volumes:
      - ./backend:/app
    command: uvicorn main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --reload

  # Database
  db:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secret
      POSTGRES_DB: myapp
    volumes:
      - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
      - ./init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  # Cache
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data

  # Worker (background jobs)
  worker:
    build: ./backend
    command: celery -A tasks worker --loglevel=info
    environment:
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - db

volumes:
  db_data:
  redis_data:

networks:
  default:
    name: myapp_network
```

---

## Development Workflows

### Hot Reload with Volumes

#### Node.js

```yaml
services:
  app:
    build: .
    volumes:
      - ./src:/app/src        # Sync source code
      - /app/node_modules     # Prevent overwriting container's node_modules
    command: npm run dev
```

```dockerfile
# Dockerfile.dev
FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install  # Include dev