nvm VS docker-node

nvm - Node version manager

Node.js + Nvm - runtime for javascript without a browser

Install Node.js if it hasn't been installed. There are several ways to install Node.js. You may download the installer from the official website, or install it with tools like NVM. After installation, run this command to verify its installation.

Our server also needs Node.js to run our app. We could install the binary directly, but I prefer to use a tool called NVM, which allows us to easily manage Node versions. We can install it with this command:

By setting up your environment in isolation, you can prevent yourself from a lot of issues when experimenting with code. It makes your code behave more predictable due to the defined state of the runtime environment you are working with. This article should provide you with enough information to get started, but obviously, there is a lot more power embedded in NVM, Virtual Environment and RBEnv. So make sure to check their documentation.

I highly recommend setting up nodejs with a version manager, nvm was and still is a popular option, however, I now recommend and have been using fnm, a simpler and faster alternative to manage my nodejs versions.

The purpose of a version manager is to help you navigate or install any tools for development easily. Version Manager can be one tool for each dependency (e.g. NVM, g) or One tool for all dependencies (e.g. asdf, mise).

I usually develop on Windows so I installed NVM for Windows from here, but if you’re on other OS I’m sure you can find a version that supports it, probably this is the answer.

This was a very quick introduction to how I setup NodeJS on my environment using nvm. If you have any questions please refer to the official documentation or contact me via my Social Links.

FROM node:16-alpine AS base FROM base AS deps # Check https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/tree/b4117f9333da4138b03a546ec926ef50a31506c3#nodealpine to understand why libc6-compat might be needed. RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat WORKDIR /app COPY package.json package-lock.json* ./ RUN npm ci FROM base AS builder WORKDIR /app COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules COPY . . RUN npm run build # Production image, copy all the files and run next FROM base AS runner WORKDIR /app ENV NODE_ENV production COPY --from=builder /app/.next/standalone ./ COPY --from=builder /app/.next/static ./.next/static COPY --from=builder /app/public ./public EXPOSE 3000 ENV PORT 3000 ENV HOSTNAME localhost CMD ["node", "server.js"]

This instructs docker to start building our image from an existing node image based on Alpine Linux. Alpine distribution is the smallest Linux distribution which allows building lightweight images.

FROM node:21-alpine AS base FROM base AS builder Check https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/tree/b4117f9333da4138b03a546ec926ef50a31506c3#nodealpine to understand why libc6-compat might be needed. RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat RUN apk update Set working directory WORKDIR /app Install pnpm with corepack RUN corepack enable && corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate Enable pnpm add --global on Alpine Linux by setting home location environment variable to a location already in $PATH https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/784#issuecomment-1518582235 ENV PNPM_HOME=/usr/local/bin RUN pnpm install turbo --global COPY . . RUN turbo prune web --docker Add lockfile and package.json's of isolated subworkspace FROM base AS installer RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat RUN apk update WORKDIR /app First install the dependencies (as they change less often) COPY .gitignore .gitignore COPY --from=builder /app/out/json/ . COPY --from=builder /app/out/pnpm-workspace.yaml ./pnpm-workspace.yaml COPY --from=builder /app/out/pnpm-lock.yaml ./pnpm-lock.yaml RUN pnpm install Build the project COPY --from=builder /app/out/full/ . RUN pnpm turbo run build --filter=web FROM base AS runner WORKDIR /app Don't run production as root RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs USER nextjs COPY --from=installer /app/apps/web/next.config.js . COPY --from=installer /app/apps/web/package.json . Automatically leverage output traces to reduce image size https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/output-file-tracing COPY --from=installer --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/apps/web/.next/standalone ./ COPY --from=installer --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/apps/web/.next/static ./apps/web/.next/static COPY --from=installer --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/apps/web/public ./apps/web/public CMD node apps/web/server.js

FROM node:18-alpine AS base # Install dependencies only when needed FROM base AS deps # Check https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/tree/b4117f9333da4138b03a546ec926ef50a31506c3#nodealpine to understand why libc6-compat might be needed. RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat WORKDIR /app # Install dependencies based on the preferred package manager COPY package.json yarn.lock* package-lock.json* pnpm-lock.yaml* ./ RUN \ if [ -f yarn.lock ]; then yarn --frozen-lockfile; \ elif [ -f package-lock.json ]; then npm ci; \ elif [ -f pnpm-lock.yaml ]; then yarn global add pnpm && pnpm i --frozen-lockfile; \ else echo "Lockfile not found." && exit 1; \ fi # Rebuild the source code only when needed FROM base AS builder WORKDIR /app COPY --from=deps /app/node_modules ./node_modules COPY . . # Next.js collects completely anonymous telemetry data about general usage. # Learn more here: https://nextjs.org/telemetry # Uncomment the following line in case you want to disable telemetry during the build. # ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1 RUN yarn build # If using npm comment out above and use below instead # RUN npm run build # Production image, copy all the files and run next FROM base AS runner WORKDIR /app ENV NODE_ENV production # Uncomment the following line in case you want to disable telemetry during runtime. # ENV NEXT_TELEMETRY_DISABLED 1 RUN addgroup --system --gid 1001 nodejs RUN adduser --system --uid 1001 nextjs COPY --from=builder /app/public ./public # Set the correct permission for prerender cache RUN mkdir .next RUN chown nextjs:nodejs .next # Automatically leverage output traces to reduce image size # https://nextjs.org/docs/advanced-features/output-file-tracing COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/standalone ./ COPY --from=builder --chown=nextjs:nodejs /app/.next/static ./.next/static USER nextjs EXPOSE 3000 ENV PORT 3000 # set hostname to localhost ENV HOSTNAME "0.0.0.0" # server.js is created by next build from the standalone output # https://nextjs.org/docs/pages/api-reference/next-config-js/output CMD ["node", "server.js"]

Official docker image for node is built from Alpine or Debian [1]

Forgive me if I don't believe that running a full OS on a host OS to run a single node command doesn't amount to running a VM.

[1] https://github.com/nodejs/docker-node/tree/main/20

This is Node's Docker image.

Since the project is written in Node.js, we need to find a Node.js environment on Docker Hub. We can find the official Node image on Docker Hub by searching for "Node.js".

This node image is just one of a range published by the Node.js team (https://hub.docker.com/_/node), and they also have the Dockerfile for their build available

do you mean container image? npm comes in the "node" container image https://hub.docker.com/_/node

I'm trying to setup a docker container for running a node js app. I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to docker, but from what I've read all I need to do is "Launch docker image" and enter the image name from the docker repo. In this case: https://hub.docker.com/_/node My config looks like this. After that the UI just says deploying forever. I must be missing something obvious, any ideas?