Docker & Container Engineering Standards

This skill codifies 2026 Docker best practices — secure, minimal, reproducible container images using BuildKit, multi-stage builds, and Compose v2.

1. Dockerfile Fundamentals

Always Start With BuildKit Syntax

# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1

Place this as the first line of every Dockerfile. It enables:

• Parallel stage execution
• Cache mounts (--mount=type=cache)
• Secret mounts (--mount=type=secret)
• Reproducible builds across Docker versions

Base Image Selection

Use Case	Recommended Base	Why
Node.js	node:22-slim	Debian Slim — small, has essential libs
Python	python:3.13-slim	Minimal Debian, no build tools
Go	scratch or distroless	Static binary needs nothing
General	debian:bookworm-slim	Stable, well-patched, small

• NEVER use :latest — always pin to a specific version tag
• Prefer -slim variants over full images to reduce attack surface
• Consider distroless for production — no shell, no package manager = minimal attack surface

2. Multi-Stage Builds (Required for Production)

Multi-stage builds are mandatory for any production image. They separate build-time dependencies from runtime. See templates.md for the full annotated Multi-Stage Build template.

Key Rules

• Name every stage: FROM ... AS builder — makes builds readable and targetable
• Copy only artifacts: Use COPY --from=builder to cherry-pick built files
• Never install dev dependencies in the runtime stage
• The runtime stage should have ZERO build tools (no compilers, no git, no curl)

3. Security Hardening

Non-Root Execution (Mandatory)

# Create a system user with no home directory, no login shell
RUN groupadd -r appgroup && useradd -r -g appgroup -s /usr/sbin/nologin appuser

# Switch to the non-root user BEFORE CMD
USER appuser

• NEVER run containers as root in production
• NEVER use --privileged flag unless absolutely required
• Set USER as late as possible — after all RUN commands that need root

Secret Handling

# ✅ Good: BuildKit secret mount (never stored in layers)
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=npm_token \
    NPM_TOKEN=$(cat /run/secrets/npm_token) \
    npm config set //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=$NPM_TOKEN

# ❌ Bad: ARG/ENV secrets (visible in image history)
ARG NPM_TOKEN
ENV NPM_TOKEN=$NPM_TOKEN

• NEVER use ARG or ENV for secrets — they are baked into image layers
• NEVER COPY .env files into the image
• Use --mount=type=secret (BuildKit) for build-time secrets
• Use Docker Compose secrets: or orchestrator secrets for runtime

Vulnerability Scanning

docker scout cves <image>          # Docker Scout
trivy image <image>                # Trivy (open source)
grype <image>                      # Grype (Anchore)

• Run scanning in CI — hard-fail on HIGH/CRITICAL vulnerabilities
• Never use continue-on-error: true for security gates

4. Layer Optimization

Instruction Ordering

Docker caches each layer. Order instructions from least-changing to most-changing:

# 1. Base image (rarely changes)
FROM node:22-slim

# 2. System deps (changes infrequently)
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    dumb-init \
    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

# 3. Application deps (changes when lock file changes)
COPY package.json pnpm-lock.yaml ./
RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

# 4. Application code (changes most frequently)
COPY . .
RUN pnpm build

Cache Mounts (BuildKit)

# Cache package manager downloads between builds
RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/pip \
    pip install -r requirements.txt

.dockerignore (Required)

Create a .dockerignore in every project with a Dockerfile:

.git
.github
node_modules
dist
*.md
.env*
.vscode
.idea
tmp/
coverage/

• ALWAYS exclude .git — it can be hundreds of MB
• ALWAYS exclude node_modules — reinstall inside the container
• ALWAYS exclude .env* — prevents secret leaks

5. Advanced Examples & CI/CD

For advanced Docker Compose configurations and GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows, see the reference file:

Read: references/advanced-examples.md

7. Anti-Patterns (Never Do These)

Anti-Pattern	Why It's Wrong	Do This Instead
FROM ubuntu:latest	Unpinned, large, unpredictable	Pin version, use -slim
RUN apt-get update alone	Cache goes stale across builds	Combine with install in one RUN
ADD for local files	Unpredictable (auto-extracts)	Use COPY explicitly
Multiple RUN apt-get	Creates unnecessary layers	Chain with && in one RUN
COPY . . before deps	Breaks layer cache on every code change	Copy lock file first, install, then copy source
Running as root	Security vulnerability	Create and switch to appuser
Secrets in ENV/ARG	Visible in image history	Use --mount=type=secret
No .dockerignore	Bloated context, potential secret leaks	Always create one