Docker Local Development Skill

Docker Compose patterns for local development environments including PostgreSQL and supporting services.

When to Use This Skill

Setting up local PostgreSQL for development
Managing development databases
Adding local services (Redis, etc.)
Standardizing team development environments

Quick Start

Minimal Setup (PostgreSQL Only)

Create docker-compose.yml in project root:

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: myapp-postgres
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: myapp
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Commands

# Start services
docker compose up -d

# View logs
docker compose logs -f postgres

# Stop services
docker compose down

# Stop and remove volumes (reset database)
docker compose down -v

# Check status
docker compose ps

Environment Variables

.env.local

# Database
DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/myapp

docker-compose.yml with .env file

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-postgres}
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-postgres}
      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-myapp}
    ports:
      - "${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Extended Setup

PostgreSQL + Redis

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: myapp-postgres
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: myapp
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: myapp-redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  redis_data:

With pgAdmin (Database GUI)

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    container_name: myapp-postgres
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: postgres
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
      POSTGRES_DB: myapp
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  pgadmin:
    image: dpage/pgadmin4:latest
    container_name: myapp-pgadmin
    environment:
      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: admin@local.dev
      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: admin
      PGADMIN_CONFIG_SERVER_MODE: "False"
    ports:
      - "5050:80"
    volumes:
      - pgadmin_data:/var/lib/pgadmin
    depends_on:
      - postgres

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  pgadmin_data:

Access pgAdmin at http://localhost:5050

With Minio (S3-Compatible Storage)

services:
  minio:
    image: minio/minio:latest
    container_name: myapp-minio
    command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
    environment:
      MINIO_ROOT_USER: minioadmin
      MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD: minioadmin
    ports:
      - "9000:9000"  # API
      - "9001:9001"  # Console
    volumes:
      - minio_data:/data

volumes:
  minio_data:

Access Minio Console at http://localhost:9001

Database Operations

Connect with psql

# Using Docker
docker compose exec postgres psql -U postgres -d myapp

# Direct connection (if psql installed locally)
psql postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/myapp

Common psql Commands

-- List databases
\l

-- Connect to database
\c myapp

-- List tables
\dt

-- Describe table
\d user

-- Show table data
SELECT * FROM "user" LIMIT 10;

-- Exit
\q

Backup and Restore

# Backup
docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U postgres myapp > backup.sql

# Restore
docker compose exec -T postgres psql -U postgres myapp < backup.sql

# Backup specific tables
docker compose exec postgres pg_dump -U postgres -t user -t session myapp > users_backup.sql

Reset Database

# Drop and recreate
docker compose exec postgres psql -U postgres -c "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS myapp;"
docker compose exec postgres psql -U postgres -c "CREATE DATABASE myapp;"

# Or restart with fresh volume
docker compose down -v
docker compose up -d

Package.json Scripts

Add convenient scripts:

{
  "scripts": {
    "docker:up": "docker compose up -d",
    "docker:down": "docker compose down",
    "docker:reset": "docker compose down -v && docker compose up -d",
    "docker:logs": "docker compose logs -f",
    "docker:psql": "docker compose exec postgres psql -U postgres -d myapp",
    "db:generate": "drizzle-kit generate",
    "db:migrate": "tsx src/lib/db/migrate.ts",
    "db:studio": "drizzle-kit studio",
    "dev": "next dev",
    "dev:full": "docker compose up -d && next dev"
  }
}

Development Workflow

Daily Workflow

# Start services (if not running)
npm run docker:up

# Run migrations (if schema changed)
npm run db:migrate

# Start dev server
npm run dev

After Schema Changes

# Generate migration
npm run db:generate

# Apply migration
npm run db:migrate

# Verify in Drizzle Studio
npm run db:studio

Fresh Start

# Reset everything
npm run docker:reset

# Run migrations
npm run db:migrate

Health Checks

Verify Services Running

# Check container status
docker compose ps

# Expected output:
# NAME              STATUS
# myapp-postgres    Up (healthy)
# myapp-redis       Up (healthy)

Wait for Database

Script to wait for PostgreSQL before running commands:

#!/bin/bash
# wait-for-db.sh

echo "Waiting for PostgreSQL..."
until docker compose exec postgres pg_isready -U postgres > /dev/null 2>&1; do
  sleep 1
done
echo "PostgreSQL is ready!"

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

# Find what's using port 5432
lsof -i :5432

# Kill the process or use a different port
# In docker-compose.yml:
ports:
  - "5433:5432"  # Map to different local port

Container Won't Start

# Check logs
docker compose logs postgres

# Common issues:
# - Port conflict: change port mapping
# - Volume permissions: docker compose down -v
# - Image pull failed: docker compose pull

Connection Refused

# Verify container is running
docker compose ps

# Verify port mapping
docker compose port postgres 5432

# Test connection
docker compose exec postgres pg_isready -U postgres

Slow Startup

# Pre-pull images
docker compose pull

# Check disk space
docker system df

# Clean up unused resources
docker system prune

Gitignore

Add to .gitignore:

# Docker volumes (if not using named volumes)
.docker-data/

# Local environment overrides
docker-compose.override.yml

Production Considerations

This setup is for local development only. For production:

Use managed database services (AWS RDS, Aurora, etc.)
Never use default passwords
Configure proper networking and security groups
Set up backups and monitoring
See infra-aws skill for production deployment

Quick Reference

Command	Purpose
`docker compose up -d`	Start services
`docker compose down`	Stop services
`docker compose down -v`	Stop and reset data
`docker compose logs -f`	View logs
`docker compose ps`	Check status
`docker compose exec postgres psql -U postgres`	Connect to DB

infra-docker