/mhart-alpine-node

Minimal Node/io.js Docker Images built on Alpine Linux

MIT LicenseMIT

Minimal Node.js Docker Images (18MB, or 6.7MB compressed)

Versions v6.1.0, v5.11.1, v4.4.4, v0.12.14, v0.10.45, and io.js – built on Alpine Linux.

All versions use the one mhart/alpine-node repository, but each version aligns with the following tags (ie, mhart/alpine-node:<tag>):

  • Full install built with npm:
    • latest, 6, 6.1, 6.1.0 – 41.58 MB (npm 3.8.9)
    • 5, 5.11, 5.11.1 – 39.36 MB (npm 3.8.9)
    • 4, 4.4, 4.4.4 – 36.33 MB (npm 2.15.5)
    • 0.12, 0.12.14 – 32.93 MB (npm 2.15.5)
    • 0.10, 0.10.45 – 28.38 MB (npm 2.15.5)
  • Base install with node built as a static binary with no npm:
    • base, base-6, base-6.1, base-6.1.0 – 29.54 MB
    • base-5, base-5.11, base-5.11.1 – 27.63 MB
    • base-4, base-4.4, base-4.4.4 – 27.23 MB
    • base-0.12, base-0.12.14 – 24.14 MB
    • base-0.10, base-0.10.45 – 18.3 MB

Major io.js versions are tagged too.

Examples

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node node --version
v6.1.0

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node npm --version
3.8.9

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:5 node --version
v5.11.1

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:4 node --version
v4.4.4

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:base node --version
v6.1.0

$ docker run mhart/alpine-node:base-0.10 node --version
v0.10.45

Example Dockerfile for your own Node.js project

If you don't have any native dependencies, ie only depend on pure-JS npm modules, then my suggestion is to run npm install locally before running docker build (and make sure node_modules isn't in your .dockerignore) – then you don't need an npm install step in your Dockerfile and you don't need npm installed in your Docker image – so you can use one of the smaller base* images.

FROM mhart/alpine-node:base
# FROM mhart/alpine-node:base-0.10
# FROM mhart/alpine-node

WORKDIR /src
ADD . .

# If you have native dependencies, you'll need extra tools
# RUN apk add --no-cache make gcc g++ python

# If you need npm, don't use a base tag
# RUN npm install

EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "index.js"]

Caveats

As Alpine Linux uses musl, you may run into some issues with environments expecting glibc-like behaviour (for example, Kubernetes). Some of these issues are documented here:

Inspired by: