jon23d/dockerfile

Dockerfile Best Practices

Every Dockerfile decision affects security, build speed, and image size. Apply these rules without exception.

This project is Node.js / TypeScript. Read node.md before writing any code.

Base image — pin to a specific version tag

Never use latest. Pin to a specific version tag. Prefer minimal variants.

# Bad
FROM node:latest

# Good
FROM node:22.3-slim

Use -slim or -alpine variants unless you have a specific reason not to. Alpine is smallest but can cause compatibility issues with native binaries — use -slim when unsure.

If the project has a .tool-versions, package.json engines, or equivalent, match the pinned version there.

Layer ordering — stable layers first, volatile layers last

Docker caches layers. A changed layer invalidates all layers below it. Order from least-to-most frequently changing:

# Bad — source code copied before deps; deps reinstall on every code change
COPY . .
RUN npm install

# Good — deps installed before source; cache survives code changes
COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
RUN npm install
COPY . .

Rule: copy only what's needed for the next step. Don't COPY . . until after all dependency installs.

Multi-stage builds — never ship build tools

Use multi-stage builds to keep dev dependencies and build artifacts out of the production image.

# Stage 1: build
FROM node:22.3-slim AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json package-lock.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Stage 2: production
FROM node:22.3-slim AS production
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules

The final stage should contain only what's needed to run the application.

Secrets — never bake them into the image

Secrets in ENV or ARG instructions are visible in the image history.

# Bad — secret visible in `docker history`
ARG NPM_TOKEN
RUN echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}" > .npmrc
RUN npm install

# Good — secret used only during build, not stored in layer
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=npm_token \
    NPM_TOKEN=$(cat /run/secrets/npm_token) \
    npm install

For runtime secrets, use environment variables injected at runtime — never hardcoded in the Dockerfile.

Non-root user — never run as root

# Add at the end of your final stage, before CMD
RUN addgroup --system appgroup && adduser --system --ingroup appgroup appuser
USER appuser

Some base images (e.g. node:slim) include a default non-root user — use it:

USER node

.dockerignore — always create one

Without .dockerignore, the entire build context is sent to the daemon, including secrets, dev files, and .git.

Minimum .dockerignore:

.git
.env
*.env
node_modules
__pycache__
.DS_Store

Add any build artifacts, test output, or local config that shouldn't be in the image.

HEALTHCHECK — always define one

Orchestrators (Kubernetes, ECS, Docker Swarm) use HEALTHCHECK to detect unhealthy containers. Without it, a crashed app inside a running container looks healthy.

HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=5s --start-period=10s --retries=3 \
  CMD curl -f http://localhost:8080/health || exit 1

Adjust the path and port to match your application's actual port. If the app doesn't have an HTTP health endpoint, add one.

Image size — verify before shipping

After building, check the image size:

docker images <image-name>
docker history <image-name>  # shows which layers are largest

If the image is unexpectedly large:

• Confirm you're using a slim/alpine base
• Confirm multi-stage build is in use
• Check for leftover package manager caches — clear them in the same RUN step that installs:

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    curl \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

Checklist

• [ ] Base image pinned to specific version tag, slim/alpine variant used
• [ ] Node.js-specific rules applied (read node.md)
• [ ] Dependency files copied and installed before source code
• [ ] Multi-stage build used; final stage contains only runtime artifacts
• [ ] No secrets in ENV, ARG, or RUN commands
• [ ] Non-root user set in final stage
• [ ] .dockerignore created and includes .git, .env, build artifacts
• [ ] HEALTHCHECK defined with appropriate path and interval
• [ ] Image size verified with docker images after build