🚀 Strapi Docker Starter

A production- and development-ready Docker starter for Strapi 4+.

This starter helps you quickly containerize your Strapi backend with optional PostgreSQL and frontend services.

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🧪 Features

• ✅ Multi-stage Dockerfile (dev / prod)
• ✅ Optional PostgreSQL database
• ✅ Optional frontend service integration
• ✅ Volume-based development with hot-reloading
• ✅ Remote Container support (VS Code)
• ✅ No need to install Node.js locally

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📦 Quick Start

1. Click Use this template to fork the repository.
2. Then clone your copy:

git clone https://github.com/newproweb/strapi-docker-starter.git
cd strapi-docker-starter
docker compose build
docker compose up

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📂 Project Structure

strapi-docker-starter/
├── frontend/               # (Optional) Your frontend app
│   └── Dockerfile
├── server/                 # Strapi backend
│   └── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
└── README.md

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🐳 Docker Compose

🔹 Option 1: Strapi Only (uses SQLite, no DB or frontend)

version: "3.9"
services:
  strapi:
    build:
      context: ./server
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "1337:1337"
    volumes:
      - ./server:/app
      - /app/node_modules
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=development

🔸 Option 2: Strapi + PostgreSQL + Frontend

version: "3.9"
services:
  strapi:
    build:
      context: ./server
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "1337:1337"
    volumes:
      - ./server:/app
      - /app/node_modules
    environment:
      - DATABASE_CLIENT=postgres
      - DATABASE_NAME=strapi
      - DATABASE_HOST=db
      - DATABASE_PORT=5432
      - DATABASE_USERNAME=strapi
      - DATABASE_PASSWORD=strapi

  db:
    image: postgres:15
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: strapi
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: strapi
      POSTGRES_DB: strapi
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  frontend:
    build:
      context: ./frontend
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./frontend:/app

volumes:
  pgdata:

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⚙️ Dockerfile (server/Dockerfile)

# dev | prod
ARG RUN_MODE=dev

# === Dev Mode ===
FROM node:18 as dev
WORKDIR /app
ADD ./ /app
RUN npm install
ENTRYPOINT [ "npm", "run", "develop" ]

# === Prod Mode ===
FROM node:18 as prod
WORKDIR /app
ADD ./ /app
RUN npm install
ENTRYPOINT [ "npm", "start" ]

# Final stage
FROM ${RUN_MODE}

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🚀 Running Your Application

Instead of using npm run develop or yarn develop commands directly, use Docker:

1. First build your containers:

docker compose build

2. Then start your application:

docker compose up

3. To run in detached mode (in background):

docker compose up -d

4. To view logs when running in detached mode:

docker compose logs -f

5. To stop your application:

docker compose down

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🖥 Recommended VS Code Setup

Install the Remote - Containers extension to develop directly inside the container.

Enable Auto Save

Open settings.json in VS Code and add:

{
  "files.autoSave": "afterDelay",
  "files.autoSaveDelay": 1000
}

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🧼 Clean Build Commands

docker compose down -v
docker compose build --no-cache
docker compose up

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🧳 Environment Configuration

If you're using PostgreSQL, add a .env file in server/ with:

DATABASE_CLIENT=postgres
DATABASE_HOST=db
DATABASE_PORT=5432
DATABASE_NAME=strapi
DATABASE_USERNAME=strapi
DATABASE_PASSWORD=strapi

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🧾 License

MIT © Aliev Davlatbek