Docker Setup for Local Development

This guide helps you set up a local development environment using Docker, PostgreSQL, and your project image.

Local Development Environment with Docker, PostgreSQL, and Node.js (TypeScript) This project sets up a complete local development environment using Docker, PostgreSQL, and a Node.js application written in TypeScript. The goal is to provide an isolated, reproducible, and scalable setup where each component runs in its own container.

⚙️ Architecture Overview PostgreSQL Database runs inside one Docker container.

Node.js Application runs inside a separate Docker container.

Both containers are connected using a custom Docker network (user_project) to enable communication between them.

📡 Why Use a Docker Network? By default, Docker containers are isolated from each other. To allow communication:

We create a custom Docker network using docker network create user_project.

Both the Node.js app and PostgreSQL containers are attached to this network.

This allows the Node.js app to connect to the database using the container name (postgres) as the hostname.

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🚀 Prerequisites

• Docker must be installed and running.
• Basic understanding of terminal commands and Docker is helpful.

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⚙️ Docker Installation and Setup

1. Install Docker

If you don't have Docker installed, follow the official installation guide:

👉 Install Docker

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2. Create a Custom Docker Network

Docker networks allow containers to communicate with each other by name (hostname).

docker network create user_project

This creates an isolated network named user_project.

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3. Start a PostgreSQL Container

This command runs a PostgreSQL instance in a Docker container and connects it to your custom network.

docker run --network user_project --name postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword \
  -d -p 5432:5432 postgres

• --network user_project: connects it to your network.
• --name postgres: gives the container a name.
• -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=...: sets the DB password.
• -d: runs in detached mode.
• -p 5432:5432: maps the container port to host.

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4. Build Your App Image

Make sure your project has a Dockerfile in the root directory.

docker build --network=host -t user-project .

• --network=host: useful if your build needs internet access.
• -t user-project: tags the image with the name user-project.
• .: current directory (where the Dockerfile is located).

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5. Run Your App Container

Finally, run your application and link it to the PostgreSQL database.

docker run \
  -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@postgres:5432/postgres \
  --network user_project \
  -p 3000:3000 user-project

• DATABASE_URL: environment variable your app uses to connect to PostgreSQL.
• --network user_project: ensures the app can resolve postgres as the DB host.
• -p 3000:3000: maps port 3000 of the container to your local machine.

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✅ You’re All Set!

Once everything is up:

• Your PostgreSQL DB is running at localhost:5432
• Your app is available at http://localhost:3000

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🧠 Bonus Tips

• Use .env files to avoid hardcoding secrets like passwords.
• For production, consider docker-compose for managing multi-container setups.
• You can add Prisma migrations like this (after containers are running):

npx prisma migrate dev --name init

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📁 Project Structure (Example)

project-root/
├── Dockerfile
├── prisma/
│   └── schema.prisma
├── node_modules/
├── package.json
└── ...

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🐳 Happy Dockering!

Feel free to fork or open issues to improve this guide.

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📘 About This Project

This project provides a clean and simple boilerplate for running a Node.js application with PostgreSQL using Docker. It's great for development and testing environments where containerized databases and services are preferred.

✨ Features

• Dockerized PostgreSQL setup
• Custom Docker network support
• Environment variable-based configuration
• Easy setup and teardown

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📦 Suggested GitHub Repository Name

You can name your repository something descriptive and relevant. Here are a few suggestions:

• docker-node-postgres-starter
• dev-env-docker-postgres
• containerized-node-app
• node-postgres-docker-boilerplate
• dockerized-dev-setup

Choose a name that reflects your project's purpose and is easy to understand for other developers.

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests to improve the guide or add features.

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📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

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🧩 Database Connection (Node.js + TypeScript + Docker)

This project demonstrates how to connect a Node.js application (written in TypeScript) to a PostgreSQL database using Docker containers.

🛠 Architecture Overview

• PostgreSQL runs in one Docker container.
• Node.js app runs in a separate Docker container.
• Both containers communicate through a shared Docker network (user_project).

🔗 Why Use a Docker Network?

When you run services in separate containers, they are isolated by default. Using a Docker network allows the containers to communicate with each other by name. In this case, the Node.js app uses the hostname postgres to connect to the PostgreSQL container.

📌 Sample PostgreSQL Connection Code (TypeScript)

Make sure to use the correct DATABASE_URL environment variable in your app. Example using pg library:

import { Client } from 'pg';

const client = new Client({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL, // e.g. 'postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@postgres:5432/postgres'
});

client.connect()
  .then(() => console.log('Connected to PostgreSQL successfully!'))
  .catch(err => console.error('Connection error', err.stack));

🧪 Using with Prisma ORM

If you're using Prisma with TypeScript, your .env file should look like:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://postgres:mysecretpassword@postgres:5432/postgres"

Then run:

npx prisma generate
npx prisma migrate dev --name init

✅ Benefits of This Setup

• Fully isolated environments for services.
• Easy to scale or swap out containers.
• Portable and replicable development environments.