Install node_modules inside Docker container and synchronize them with host

Question

I have the problem with installing node_modules inside the Docker container and synchronize them with the host. My Docker\'s version is 18.03.1-ce, build

Answer 1

My workaround is to install dependencies when the container is starting instead of during build-time.

Dockerfile:

# We're using a multi-stage build so that we can install dependencies during build-time only for production.

# dev-stage
FROM node:14-alpine AS dev-stage
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY package.json ./
COPY . .
# `yarn install` will run every time we start the container. We're using yarn because it's much faster than npm when there's nothing new to install
CMD ["sh", "-c", "yarn install && yarn run start"]

# production-stage
FROM node:14-alpine AS production-stage
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY package.json ./
RUN yarn install
COPY . .

.dockerignore

Add node_modules to .dockerignore to prevent it from being copied when the Dockerfile runs COPY . .. We use volumes to bring in node_modules.

**/node_modules

docker-compose.yml

node_app:
    container_name: node_app
    build:
        context: ./node_app
        target: dev-stage # `production-stage` for production
    volumes:
        # For development:
        #   If node_modules already exists on the host, they will be copied
        #   into the container here. Since `yarn install` runs after the
        #   container starts, this volume won't override the node_modules.
        - ./node_app:/usr/src/app
        # For production:
        #   
        - ./node_app:/usr/src/app
        - /usr/src/app/node_modules