How to start the container for the Node.js application using just Docker-compose.yml file without using the Dockerfile

Question

I am trying to implement a simple Node.js application using just the Docker-compose file. I am a bit confused as I start the docker using the command docker-compose up and check the running container it says restarting and nothing happens.

I want to implement this Node.js application using just the docker-compose.yml file and without any use of Dockerfile . Most of the examples in the net are using the separate Dockerfile for Node.js to build the image and this image has been used by the docker-compose.yml file to create the container.

I tried the same with Dockerfile and it worked perfectly for me. But when I remove this Dockerfile and just use the docker-compose.yml file then I run into a restarting issue:

Error response from daemon: Container a7fe8cdc262ae6c57e33b60b1a69084df1313e590 is restarting, wait until the container is running

docker-compose.yml file:

version: '3'

services:
  db:
    build: ./db
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: mydb
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: mypass
      MYSQL_USER: mysql
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: mypass
      DATABASE_HOST: myhost
  web:
    image: node:8
    volumes:
      - ./web:/usr/src/app
    working_dir: /usr/src/app
    command: bash -c "npm run start && tail -F"
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: on-failure

My index.js file:

     //Make NodeJS to Listen to a particular Port in Localhost
     const   port        =   process.env.PORT || 9000;; 
     app.listen(port, function(){
        // Start the server and read the parameter passed by User
        console.log("Node js is Running on : "+port);
        // Get process.stdin as the standard input object.
        var standard_input = process.stdin;

        // Set input character encoding.
        standard_input.setEncoding('utf-8');

        // Prompt user to input data in console.
        console.log("Please input text in command line.");

        // When user input data and click enter key.
        standard_input.on('data', function (data) {
            console.log(" DATA ENTERED BY USER IS :"+data);
        });
    });

My previous Dockerfile for Node.js which I am trying to remove:

FROM node:8

WORKDIR /usr/src/app

COPY package*.json ./

RUN npm install

COPY . .

EXPOSE 9000

CMD ["npm","start"]

CMD tail -f /dev/null

Answer 1

Start node application through docker-compose file.

version: "3.7"
networks:
  main-network;

services:

 app:
   container_name: app
   image: node:latest
   restart: always
   volumes:
    - ./app:/home/node/app
   working_dir: /home/node/app
   ports:
    - 3000:3000
   networks:
    - main-network
   command: "npm start"
   depends_on:
    - db
   logging:
     driver: "json-file"
     options:
       max-file: "4"
       max-size: "100m"

Answer 2

Thanks a lot, everyone for the answers and comments. If anyone is stuck in this then I used following commands in docker-compose.yml file. This does not require any additional Dockerfile for the building of the image.

version: '3'

services:
  db:
    image: mysql:5.7
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: mydb
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: mypass
      MYSQL_USER: mysql
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: mypass
      DATABASE_HOST: myhost

  web:
    container_name: web
    image: node:8
    volumes:
      - ./web:/usr/src/app
    working_dir: /usr/src/app
    depends_on:
      - db
    restart: on-failure
    command: "tail -f /dev/null && npm start"

  adminer:
    image: adminer
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "7778:8080"

Also, an important this is to have this command in your package.json file, if yu dont have this command then you will run into some issue:

"start": "nodemon index.js",

 "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "preinstall": "npm i nodemon -g",
    "start": "nodemon index.js",
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
  },
  "author": "",