Setting Up a Development Environment with Docker Compose

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3.9"

services:
  app:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile.dev
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - .:/app
      - /app/node_modules   # Protect container node_modules
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=development
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: dev
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: devpass
      POSTGRES_DB: myapp
    volumes:
      - pg_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U dev"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 3s
      retries: 5

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    command: redis-server --save 60 1

volumes:
  pg_data:

docker compose up -d              # Run in the background
docker compose up --build         # Rebuild images, then start
docker compose down -v            # Remove containers and volumes
docker compose logs -f app        # Follow logs for a specific service
docker compose exec app bash      # Open a shell in the container
docker compose ps                 # Check service status

# .env (exclude from git)
DB_PASSWORD=secretpass
API_KEY=abc123

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  app:
    env_file:
      - .env

# docker-compose.override.yml (for development; can be excluded from git)
services:
  app:
    volumes:
      - .:/app
    command: npm run dev

docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d