Docker Best Practices

Quick Reference

• Multi-stage builds: Separate build and runtime dependencies
• Alpine/slim images: Minimal base images for smaller attack surface
• Layer caching: Order instructions from least to most frequently changing
• Security first: Non-root user, pinned versions, minimal packages
• Single process: One primary process per container

Core Principles

1. Immutability

• Never modify running containers – create new images instead
• Use semantic versioning for image tags (v1.2.3)
• Treat images as versioned artifacts

2. Efficiency & Security

• Prefer Alpine variants for smaller images (node:18-alpine)
• Use official images from trusted sources
• Update base images regularly for security patches
• Avoid latest tag in production

3. Layer Optimisation

# GOOD: Optimise for caching
FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./        # Cache-friendly: deps change less
RUN npm ci --only=production
COPY . .                     # App code changes most

Multi-Stage Builds (Essential)

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

# Production stage
FROM node:18-alpine AS production
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=build /app/package*.json ./
USER node
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "dist/main.js"]

Security Essentials

Non-Root User

# Create and use non-root user
RUN addgroup -g 1001 -S nodejs
RUN adduser -S nextjs -u 1001
USER nextjs

Minimal Dependencies

# Combine commands to reduce layers and clean up
RUN apk add --no-cache \
    python3 \
    py3-pip \
    && pip install --no-cache-dir flask \
    && apk del build-dependencies

Version Pinning

# Pin specific versions for reproducibility
FROM python:3.11.5-slim
RUN pip install flask==2.3.3

Common Patterns

Python Application

FROM python:3.11-slim AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

FROM python:3.11-slim AS production
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /usr/local/lib/python3.11/site-packages /usr/local/lib/python3.11/site-packages
COPY . .
USER nobody
EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["python", "app.py"]

Node.js Application

FROM node:18-alpine AS deps
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production

FROM node:18-alpine AS production
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY . .
USER node
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]

Go Application

FROM golang:1.21-alpine AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY go.mod go.sum ./
RUN go mod download
COPY . .
RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o main .

FROM scratch AS production
COPY --from=build /app/main /main
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["/main"]

Performance Optimisation

.dockerignore

node_modules
.git
.gitignore
README.md
.env
.nyc_output
coverage
.vscode

Health Checks

HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
  CMD curl -f http://localhost:3000/health || exit 1

Resource Limits (docker-compose)

services:
  app:
    image: myapp:latest
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          memory: 512M
          cpus: "0.5"

Security Checklist

• Use multi-stage builds
• Run as non-root user
• Use minimal base images (Alpine/slim)
• Pin dependency versions
• Remove unnecessary packages
• Scan images for vulnerabilities
• Set resource limits
• Use secrets management for sensitive data

Common Anti-Patterns to Avoid

❌ Don’t do this:

FROM ubuntu:latest                    # Use specific versions
RUN apt-get update                   # Combine with install
COPY . .                            # Do this after deps
RUN apt-get install -y curl         # Separate command
ADD https://example.com/file.tar.gz  # Use COPY + RUN

✅ Do this instead:

FROM ubuntu:20.04
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
    curl \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
COPY . .

Development vs Production

Development

FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["npm", "run", "dev"]

Production (Multi-stage)

FROM node:18-alpine AS build
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

FROM node:18-alpine AS production
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app/dist ./dist
RUN addgroup -g 1001 nodejs && adduser -S -u 1001 nextjs
USER nextjs
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "dist/server.js"]

Alignment with Core Principles

• Security: Non-root users, minimal attack surface, version pinning
• Efficiency: Multi-stage builds, layer caching, minimal base images
• Reproducibility: Pinned versions, explicit dependencies
• Maintainability: Clear structure, documented patterns, consistent practices