Docker Development Skill

Agent Skill for Docker image development - Dockerfile best practices, CI testing patterns, and Docker Compose orchestration.

Features

• Dockerfile Best Practices - Multi-stage builds, layer optimization, security
• CI Testing Patterns - Test Docker images reliably in CI pipelines
• Docker Compose - Service orchestration, health checks, networking
• Docker Bake - Multi-platform builds with BuildKit
• Security - Vulnerability scanning, non-root users, secret management

Automatic Triggers

This skill activates automatically when working with:

File Pattern	Description
Dockerfile, Dockerfile.*, *.dockerfile	Container image definitions
docker-compose.yml, compose.yml	Multi-container orchestration
docker-bake.hcl	BuildKit bake configurations
.dockerignore	Build context optimization

Installation

Claude Code (Recommended)

claude mcp add-skill netresearch/docker-development-skill

Manual

Copy skills/docker-development/SKILL.md to your Claude Code skills directory.

Usage

The skill activates automatically when working on:

• Dockerfile development
• Docker Compose configurations
• Docker Bake multi-platform builds
• CI/CD pipelines for container images
• Container troubleshooting

Example Prompts

• "Create a multi-stage Dockerfile for a Node.js app"
• "Set up GitHub Actions to build and push Docker images"
• "Why is my nginx config test failing in CI?"
• "Add health checks to my docker-compose.yml"
• "Create a docker-bake.hcl for multi-platform builds"

Key Patterns

Testing Images with Entrypoints

# Bypass entrypoint for direct testing
docker run --rm --entrypoint php myimage -v

Testing nginx Configs in Isolation

# Mock upstream DNS
docker run --rm --add-host backend:127.0.0.1 nginx-image nginx -t

Compose Validation in CI

# Create .env before validation
cp .env.example .env
sed -i 's/PLACEHOLDER/test_value/g' .env
docker compose config > /dev/null

References

Extended documentation in skills/docker-development/references/:

• ci-testing.md - Comprehensive CI testing patterns

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE

Author

Netresearch DTT GmbH