Docker for Dev — Stop Breaking Your Local Machine

Every new project: install this, configure that, wrong Node version, port conflict. Sound familiar?

The Solution

Docker Compose for local development. One docker-compose up and everything works — database, Redis, backend, frontend.

My Stack

yaml
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:16
    ports: ["5432:5432"]
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    ports: ["6379:6379"]
  app:
    build: .
    volumes: ["./src:/app/src"]
    ports: ["3000:3000"]

Tips

• Use volumes for hot reload in development
• Use multi-stage builds for production images
• Keep dev and prod Dockerfiles separate
• Add a Makefile for common commands

Your teammates will thank you.