howtographql.com with docker

This repository is a result of my process of using docker to complete the howtographql.com without installing node, prisma, prisma-cli, or anything other than docker and git locally.

Instead, I use docker containers with the prisma-cli installed, and mount them to my local working directory to execute prisma commands.

My process was generally thus:

1. Build a prisma image
2. Write wrapper scripts for npm and prisma
3. Use docker-compose to run the app

I've created tags for what your docker-compose and project should look like at the completion of each of the chapters from howtographql.com. You can view those tags on the releases page of this repo.

Build prisma docker image

First, I built an image from node:latest and basically ran npm i -g prisma on it. You can either copy my Dockerfile, and run docker build -t prisma ., or you can use my published image by pulling docker pull longlivechief/prisma.

Building yourself will guarantee the latest prisma-cli, and will be shorter to type if you skip the wrapper scripts step and opt to run the full docker commands by hand.

Creating wrapper scripts

This step is optional, but will save you a lot of typing. I use docker to execute prisma and npm commands. (howtographql still uses yarn but you can substitute yarn for npm in the steps below if you want).

The wrapper script will also give you the "native" feel and allow you to follow along with the tutorials as if prisma and npm were natively installed, so I highly recommend creating these wrappers/aliases. If you choose not to, simply run the docker run commmand from each script by hand each time you want to run prisma <command> or npm <command.

Copy or clone the two scripts in /bin of this project somewhere onto your $PATH. For this example let's assume you put them on $HOME/bin. Ensure they are executable by running chmod +x $HOME/bin/npm $HOME/bin/prisma

Using docker-compose

Use node:latest or a derivative image to run the code from each chapter. Use docker-compose up -d to start up app components, and docker-compose restart to reload app components after a change. Map ports 4000:4000 in order to access the playground app on localhost:4000 as instructed during the demo.

Mount your working directory to /usr/app, and ensure /usr/app is your working directory.