docker

name

docker

description

Docker builds, Compose, and Docker-in-Docker for CI. Use when writing Dockerfiles, optimizing build times, multi-stage builds, BuildKit cache mounts, docker-compose.yml, or CI/CD pipelines (GitHub/GitLab/Forgejo Actions) — including docker-in-docker (dind) runners, rootless dind, bind-mount-vs-build-context confusion, and "mkdir <path>: permission denied" mount failures. Covers layer ordering, dependency caching, .dockerignore, multi-stage, BuildKit, Compose, and dind mount patterns.

Docker Layer Optimization

Optimize Docker builds for speed through proper layer ordering, BuildKit caching, and CI/CD integration.

Core Principles

1. Layer order matters - least-changing content first, most-changing last
2. Separate dependencies from code - package manifests before source
3. Use BuildKit cache mounts - persist package manager caches between builds
4. Multi-stage builds - separate build-time from runtime dependencies

Layer Ordering Pattern

# 1. Base image (rarely changes)
FROM node:20-slim AS base

# 2. System dependencies (rarely changes)
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    ca-certificates && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# 3. Package manifests ONLY (changes when deps change)
WORKDIR /app
COPY package.json package-lock.json ./

# 4. Install dependencies (cached unless manifests change)
RUN npm ci

# 5. Source code (changes frequently - LAST)
COPY . .

# 6. Build step
RUN npm run build

BuildKit Cache Mounts

Enable BuildKit: DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 or set in /etc/docker/daemon.json

# Node.js - cache npm
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.npm npm ci

# Python - cache pip
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip pip install -r requirements.txt

# Go - cache modules
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/go/pkg/mod go build -o app .

Multi-Stage Build Pattern

# Build stage
FROM golang:1.22 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY go.mod go.sum ./
RUN go mod download
COPY . .
RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o app

# Runtime stage (minimal image)
FROM gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12
COPY --from=builder /app/app /app
ENTRYPOINT ["/app"]

.dockerignore (Critical)

Always create .dockerignore to reduce build context:

.git
node_modules
*.log
.env*
dist
build
__pycache__
.pytest_cache
.coverage

Quick Diagnosis

Slow build? Check in order:

1. Missing .dockerignore? → Large build context
2. COPY . . before RUN npm install? → Reinstalls on every code change
3. Not using BuildKit cache mounts? → Downloads deps every build
4. Not using multi-stage? → Large final image, slow push/pull

Bind mount / mkdir <path>: permission denied in a docker-in-docker CI runner, or files missing after switching a mount to COPY? → references/docker-in-docker-mounts.md (it's path visibility on the daemon, not permission).

References

For detailed patterns by language and CI/CD integration:

• references/language-patterns.md - Node.js, Python, Go, Rust specific patterns
• references/cicd-integration.md - GitHub Actions & GitLab CI caching setup
• references/buildkit-advanced.md - Advanced BuildKit features (bake, secrets, SSH)
• references/compose-services.md - Compose file structure, services, build, networking, volumes, health checks, commands
• references/compose-patterns.md - Dev patterns, override files, profiles, watch mode, environment variable priority
• references/docker-in-docker-mounts.md - Docker-in-Docker: why bind mounts fail on rootless dind (path visibility, not permission), build-context vs bind-mount, .dockerignore gotchas, CI patterns (bake/named-volume/services/DooD), and dind version pinning