Multi-stage builds with node

[b23prodtm]

Problem

Describing the way how we can use multi-stage builds , my project Dockerfile typically looks like:

# Stage 1: Build Node.js application
FROM node:22-alpine AS node-build

# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /usr/local/project

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json (if available)
COPY package*.json ./

# Install dependencies
RUN yarn install

# Build the Node.js application (if needed)
# RUN yarn run build

# Stage 2: Build Apache application
FROM httpd:2.4

# Set the working directory
WORKDIR /usr/local/apache2/htdocs
COPY --from=node-build node_modules/ node_modules

COPY ./public-html ./

# Install necessary 
ENTRYPOINT ["apachectl", "-D", "FOREGROUND"]

Unfortunately, I'll see then a "File or directory not found" at the second stage of this build job.

Solution

# BEGIN - Multi-stage Build
# Stage 1: Install NodeJS dependencies
FROM node:22-alpine AS node-build

WORKDIR /usr/local/project

# Copy Node.js dependency files, Fixing global modules issue
COPY package.json yarn.lock ./
RUN corepack enable \
    && corepack prepare yarn@stable --activate \
    && yarn install --immutable \
    && yarn cache clean

# Copy only the modules into the image
COPY node_modules/ node_modules

# Stage 2: Build Apache application
FROM httpd:2.4

WORKDIR /usr/local/apache2/htdocs

# import build stage modules
COPY --from=node-build node_modules/ node_modules
# END - Multi-stage Build

Alternatives to Consider

Just file in a project with the node_modules installed in context, but it will not build on every attempt to build