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Quick start

Get the application up and running on your local machine in under 5 minutes using Docker Compose. This guide will walk you through the entire process from cloning the repository to accessing the running application.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your system:
  • Docker: Version 20.10 or higher (Install Docker)
  • Docker Compose: Version 2.0 or higher (usually included with Docker Desktop)
  • Git: For cloning the repository
You don’t need Node.js or npm installed locally. Everything runs inside Docker containers.

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Getting started

1

Clone the repository

Clone the project repository to your local machine:
git clone https://github.com/mani-6666/Mini-Project.git
cd Mini-Project
2

Build and start the application

Use Docker Compose to build the multi-stage Docker image and start the container:
docker-compose up --build
This command will:
  • Build the React frontend using Node.js 18 Alpine
  • Install Express backend dependencies
  • Create an optimized production image
  • Start the container and expose port 5000
The initial build may take 2-3 minutes as Docker downloads base images and installs dependencies. Subsequent builds will be much faster thanks to Docker’s layer caching.
3

Verify the application is running

Once the container starts, you should see:
✅ Server running on port 5000
Open your browser and navigate to:
http://localhost:5000
You should see the message:
Hello, This is from Mini project Deployment!

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Docker Compose configuration

The application uses a simple Docker Compose setup defined in docker-compose.yml:
docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
    container_name: miniproject
This configuration:
  • Uses Docker Compose version 3.8
  • Builds the image from the Dockerfile in the current directory
  • Maps port 5000 from the container to port 5000 on your host machine
  • Names the container miniproject for easy reference

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Understanding the build process

The Dockerfile uses a three-stage build process to create an optimized production image: 
FROM node:18-alpine AS frontend-build
WORKDIR /app

# Install frontend dependencies
COPY client/package*.json ./client/
RUN cd client && npm install

# Build frontend
COPY client ./client
RUN cd client && npm run build
This multi-stage approach ensures only the production artifacts make it into the final image, significantly reducing image size.

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Managing the application

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Stop the application

To stop the running container, press Ctrl+C in the terminal where Docker Compose is running, or run: 
docker-compose down

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Run in detached mode

To run the application in the background: 
docker-compose up -d
View logs with: 
docker-compose logs -f

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Rebuild after code changes

If you make changes to the code, rebuild and restart: 
docker-compose up --build

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Troubleshooting

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Port 5000 already in use

If you see an error about port 5000 being in use, either:
  1. Stop the application using that port
  2. Modify docker-compose.yml to use a different port: 
    ports:
  - "3000:5000"  # Access via localhost:3000

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Container won’t start

Check the container logs: 
docker logs miniproject

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Clean rebuild

To rebuild from scratch without cache: 
docker-compose build --no-cache
docker-compose up

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Next steps

Now that you have the application running locally, you can:

Explore the Docker setup

Learn about the multi-stage build process and optimization techniques

Set up Jenkins CI/CD

Automate your deployment with Jenkins pipeline

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