Dockerfile Language Patterns

Language-Specific Patterns

Node.js with Multi-Stage Build

dockerfile

FROM node:20.11.0-alpine AS builder

WORKDIR /app

# Install all dependencies (including devDependencies)
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci

# Build the application
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

# Production stage - only production dependencies
FROM node:20.11.0-alpine AS production

RUN addgroup -g 10001 -S nodejs && \
    adduser -S nodejs -u 10001

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production && \
    npm cache clean --force

# Copy built assets
COPY --from=builder --chown=nodejs:nodejs /app/dist ./dist

USER nodejs

HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=10s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
  CMD node healthcheck.js || exit 1

CMD ["node", "dist/server.js"]

Python with Virtual Environment

dockerfile

FROM python:3.12-slim AS builder

WORKDIR /app

COPY requirements.txt .
RUN python -m venv /opt/venv && \
    /opt/venv/bin/pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

# Production
FROM python:3.12-slim

# Create non-root user (UID > 10000)
RUN useradd -m -u 10001 python

WORKDIR /app

# Copy virtual environment from builder
COPY --from=builder /opt/venv /opt/venv

# Copy application
COPY --chown=python:python . .

USER python

ENV PATH="/opt/venv/bin:$PATH"

CMD ["python", "app.py"]

Ruby/Rails Application

dockerfile

FROM ruby:3.3-alpine AS builder

# Install build dependencies
RUN apk add --no-cache \
    build-base \
    postgresql-dev \
    nodejs \
    yarn

WORKDIR /app

# Install gems
COPY Gemfile Gemfile.lock ./
RUN bundle config set --local deployment 'true' && \
    bundle config set --local without 'development test' && \
    bundle install

# Install node packages and build assets
COPY package.json yarn.lock ./
RUN yarn install --frozen-lockfile

COPY . .

# Precompile assets
RUN SECRET_KEY_BASE=dummy bundle exec rails assets:precompile

# Production
FROM ruby:3.3-alpine

# Install runtime dependencies only
RUN apk add --no-cache \
    postgresql-client \
    nodejs \
    tzdata

RUN addgroup -g 10001 -S rails && \
    adduser -S rails -u 10001

WORKDIR /app

# Copy gems and application
COPY --from=builder /usr/local/bundle /usr/local/bundle
COPY --from=builder --chown=rails:rails /app /app

USER rails

EXPOSE 3000

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

CMD ["bundle", "exec", "rails", "server", "-b", "0.0.0.0"]

Build Arguments and Environment

Build Arguments

dockerfile

ARG NODE_ENV=production
ARG BUILD_DATE
ARG VERSION

RUN if [ "$NODE_ENV" = "production" ]; then \
      npm ci --only=production; \
    else \
      npm ci; \
    fi

# Build with:
# docker build --build-arg NODE_ENV=development -t my-app .

Environment Variables

dockerfile

ENV NODE_ENV=production \
    PORT=3000 \
    LOG_LEVEL=info

# Can be overridden at runtime:
# docker run -e LOG_LEVEL=debug my-app

Development vs Production Targets

dockerfile

# Development stage
FROM node:20-alpine AS development

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install

COPY . .

CMD ["npm", "run", "dev"]

# Production stage
FROM node:20-alpine AS production

RUN addgroup -g 10001 -S nodejs && \
    adduser -S nodejs -u 10001

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production

COPY --chown=nodejs:nodejs . .

USER nodejs

CMD ["npm", "start"]

# Build with: docker build --target development
# Or: docker build --target production (default)

BuildKit optimizes by only processing stages your target depends on.

Best Practices Summary

✅ DO

•Use specific versions - FROM node:20.11.0-alpine, never :latest
•Use multi-stage builds - Reduces attack surface, smaller images
•Run as non-root user - UID > 10,000 for security
•Order layers by change frequency - Better caching
•Use .dockerignore - Essential for security and size
•Combine apt-get update with install - Prevents cache issues
•Use set -o pipefail - Catch errors in piped commands
•Add HEALTHCHECK - Production-necessary for orchestration
•Scan for vulnerabilities - Use Docker Scout or Trivy
•Pin to digests for critical apps - Supply chain security

❌ DON'T

•Use :latest tag - Unpredictable, unreproducible builds
•Run as root - Security risk, use UID > 10,000
•Store secrets in image - Use runtime environment variables
•Install unnecessary packages - Increases attack surface
•Use ADD when COPY works - ADD has unexpected behaviors
•Forget .dockerignore - 87% of images have vulnerabilities
•Skip HEALTHCHECK - Orchestration cannot detect failures
•Separate apt-get update from install - Cache inconsistency risk

CI/CD Integration

Rebuild images frequently with --no-cache to obtain security patches. Integrate automated building and testing through GitHub Actions or equivalent pipelines.

bash

# Build without cache for security updates
docker build --no-cache -t my-app:latest .

# Scan in CI pipeline
docker scout cves my-app:latest --exit-code

Testing Dockerfiles

bash

# Build
docker build -t my-app:latest .

# Run
docker run -p 3000:3000 my-app:latest

# Check size
docker images my-app:latest

# Scan for vulnerabilities
docker scout cves my-app:latest
trivy image my-app:latest

# Inspect layers
docker history my-app:latest

# Test as non-root (should work)
docker run --user 10001:10001 my-app:latest

# Test read-only filesystem
docker run --read-only --tmpfs /tmp my-app:latest

References and Sources

This guide is based on official Docker documentation:

Last updated: December 2025