Docker Best Practices

Quick Reference

• Multi-stage builds: Separate build and runtime dependencies
• Alpine/slim images: Minimal base images for smaller attack surface
• Layer caching: Order instructions from least to most frequently changing
• Security first: Non-root user, pinned versions, minimal packages
• Single process: One primary process per container

Core Principles

1. Immutability

• Never modify running containers - create new images instead
• Use semantic versioning for image tags (v1.2.3)
• Treat images as versioned artifacts

2. Efficiency & Security