Getting started with app development¶

Apps are developed to run as containers on our Kubernetes clusters. By adopting a standard file structure and following consistent workflows, applications remain easier to update, deploy, and maintain.

Requirements¶

Before you begin, ensure you have:

Starting a project¶

A new project typically begins with the following steps:

Create a repository under github.com/bcit-lts⁴.
Add a clear README.md describing the project purpose, goals, and any required setup.

Add a Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml to the project root.

Dockerfiledocker-compose.yml

Example Dockerfile
#-- Build --#
FROM node:24.6.0-alpine3.22 AS builder

WORKDIR /app

COPY package.json ./

RUN npm install

COPY . /app

RUN npm run build

#-- Clean --#
FROM nginx:alpine AS cleaner

WORKDIR /usr/share/nginx/html

RUN rm -rf ./*

COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./

#-- Release --#
FROM nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged:alpine3.22-perl

LABEL maintainer=courseproduction@bcit.ca
LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source="https://github.com/bcit-ltc/course-workload-estimator"

WORKDIR /usr/share/nginx/html

COPY conf.d/default.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
COPY --from=cleaner /usr/share/nginx/html/ ./

Example docker-compose.yml
name: ${APP_NAME}
services:
    app:
        build:
        context: .
        target: builder

        command: npm run start

        environment:
        - DEBUG=true

        volumes:
        - ./src:/app/src

        ports:
        - "3000:3000"

Local development¶

To start local development:

docker compose up

Next steps¶

Refer to the links in the side menu for more details about development workflows and conventions.