Setting Up Node App using Docker

Create a docker setup to build an Express app with MySQL and Redis

1. Create a directory and go switch to it
   

   mkdir nodeapp
   cd nodeapp
   

2. Create package.json

   To avoid installing Node locally, we will use this docker command to npm init
   

   docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/$(basename $PWD)" -w "/$(basename $PWD)" -it node:current-alpine sh -c "npm init"
   

3. Install dotenv and express packages
   

   docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/$(basename $PWD)" -w "/$(basename $PWD)" -it node:current-alpine sh -c "npm install dotenv express"
   
   docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/$(basename $PWD)" -w "/$(basename $PWD)" -it node:current-alpine sh -c "npm install --save-dev nodemon"
   

4. Edit package.json to add to scripts section
   

   "start": "node index.js",
   "dev": "nodemon index.js"
   

5. Create .env
   

   APP_PORT=3000
   DOCKER_PORT=3000
   
   #db is the service name in docker-compose.yml
   DB_HOST=db
   DB_PORT=3306
   DB_NAME=nodeapp
   
   #can be left blank if using root username
   DB_USERNAME=
   DB_PASSWORD=
   DB_PORT=3306
   
   #redis is the service name in docker-compose.yml
   REDIS_HOST=redis
   REDIS_PASSWORD=null
   REDIS_PORT=6379
   

6. Create Dockerfile
   

   #change node version to your liking
   FROM node:18
   WORKDIR /app/
   COPY ./package.json .
   RUN npm install
   COPY ./* .
   EXPOSE $DOCKER_PORT
   

7. Create docker-compose.yml
   

   version: '3'
   services: 
     web:
       build:
         context: .
       env_file: ./.env
       tty: true
       volumes: 
         - ./:/app/
         - node_modules:/app/node_modules
       ports:
         - '${APP_PORT:-3000}:${DOCKER_PORT:-3000}'
       depends_on: 
         - db
       networks:
         - nodeapp
     db:
       image: mysql:latest
       env_file: ./.env
       environment: 
         MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: '${DB_PASSWORD}'
         MYSQL_ROOT_HOST: "%"
         MYSQL_DATABASE: '${DB_NAME}'
         MYSQL_USER: '${DB_USERNAME}'
         MYSQL_PASSWORD: '${DB_USERNAME}'
         MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD: "yes"
       ports:
         - '${DB_PORT:-3306}:3306'
       volumes:
         - mysql:/var/lib/mysql
       networks:
         - nodeapp
     redis:
       image: 'redis:alpine'
       ports:
         - '${REDIS_PORT:-6379}:6379'
       volumes:
         - 'redis:/data'
       networks:
         - nodeapp
       healthcheck:
         test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
         retries: 3
         timeout: 5s
   networks:
     nodeapp:
       driver: bridge
   volumes:
     node_modules:
       driver: local
     mysql: 
       driver: local
     redis:
       driver: local
   

8. Create index.js
   

   require('dotenv').config();
   
   const express = require('express');
   const app = express();
   
   // Constants
   const PORT = process.env.DOCKER_PORT || 3000;
   const HOST = '0.0.0.0';
   
   // App
   app.get('/', (req, res) => {
       res.send('Hello World!');
   });
   
   app.listen(PORT, HOST, () => {
        console.log(`Running on http://${HOST}:${PORT}`);
   });
   

9. Run docker-compose up -d

10. Run docker-compose exec web npm run dev

11. Go to http://localhost:3000 3000 will be APP_PORT

BONUS

To easily run npm commands, do the following

1. Create a file with the name soar
   

   #!/bin/bash
   
   path=$(printf '%s\n' "${PWD##*/}")
   
   # get first arg
   arg1=$1
   
   if [[ $arg1 == "up" ]]; then
       command="docker-compose up -d"
       $command
   elif [[ $arg1 == "down" ]]; then
       command="docker-compose down"
       $command
   else
       # remove first arg
       shift
   
       # get rest of args
       argrest=$@
   
       # web is the service name in docker-compose.yml
       ccommand="docker-compose exec web $arg1 "$argrest""
   
       # run the command
       $command
   fi
   

2. Make soar runnable
   

   chmod 700 soar
   

3. Test it with
   

   ./soar npm -h
   

4. Create an alias for ./soar to soar
   

   alias './soar'
   

   To make sure this is always available, you may add this to your shell configuration file in your home directory, such as ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc, and then restart your shell.

5. Now you can start docker, run npm, or npx

   Start docker container
   

   soar up
   

   Stop docker container
   

   soar down
   

   Run npm
   

   soar npm list
   

   Run npx
   

   soar npx ...