Dockerizing popular Javascript frameworks (e.g., React, Angular, Vue.js)

21 Sep 2023

docker

In this blog post, we will explore how to dockerize popular JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js. Docker allows us to encapsulate our application along with its dependencies into a container, making it easy to deploy and run consistently across different environments.

What is Docker?

Docker is an open-source platform that allows us to automate the deployment of applications inside containers. A container is a lightweight and isolated unit that contains all the necessary software, libraries, and dependencies for a specific application to run. Docker provides a consistent runtime environment, eliminating the “it works on my machine” problem.

Dockerizing React

React is a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces. To dockerize a React application, we need to follow these steps:

Create a Dockerfile: A Dockerfile is a plain text file that contains a series of instructions to build a Docker image. Here’s an example of a Dockerfile for a React application:
```
FROM node:14-alpine
   
WORKDIR /app
   
COPY package*.json ./
   
RUN npm install
   
COPY . .
   
EXPOSE 3000
   
CMD ["npm", "start"]
```
Build the Docker image: Open a command line inside the root directory of your React application and run the following command to build the Docker image:
```
docker build -t my-react-app .
```
Run the Docker container: After building the Docker image, we can run the container using the following command:
```
docker run -p 3000:3000 my-react-app
```

Dockerizing Angular

Angular is a popular TypeScript-based framework for building web applications. To dockerize an Angular application, follow these steps:

Create a Dockerfile: The Dockerfile for an Angular application is similar to the one for a React application. Here’s an example:

FROM node:14-alpine
   
WORKDIR /app
   
COPY package*.json ./
   
RUN npm install
   
COPY . .
   
EXPOSE 4200
   
CMD ["npm", "start"]

Build the Docker image: Open a command line inside the root directory of your Angular application and run the following command to build the Docker image:
```
docker build -t my-angular-app .
```
Run the Docker container: After building the Docker image, we can run the container using the following command:
```
docker run -p 4200:4200 my-angular-app
```

Dockerizing Vue.js

Vue.js is a progressive JavaScript framework for building user interfaces. Here’s how you can dockerize a Vue.js application:

Create a Dockerfile: The Dockerfile for a Vue.js application will be similar to the ones for React and Angular:

FROM node:14-alpine
   
WORKDIR /app
   
COPY package*.json ./
   
RUN npm install
   
COPY . .
   
EXPOSE 8080
   
CMD ["npm", "run", "serve"]

Build the Docker image: Open a command line inside the root directory of your Vue.js application and run the following command to build the Docker image:
```
docker build -t my-vue-app .
```
Run the Docker container: After building the Docker image, we can run the container using the following command:
```
docker run -p 8080:8080 my-vue-app
```

Conclusion

Docker has become an essential tool for modern software development. It allows us to package our applications along with their dependencies into containers, making them portable and easily deployable. In this blog post, we explored how to dockerize popular JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js. By dockerizing our applications, we can ensure consistent and reliable deployment across different environments. Give it a try and experience the benefits of containerization with Docker!

#javascript #docker