Dockerfile Deployments

Dockerfile deployments build your container image directly on the cluster -- no local Docker daemon required.

Requirements

Your repository must contain a Dockerfile (or specify a custom path to one).

How it works

1. Convoy Cloud clones your repository at the specified commit.
2. Each instruction in your Dockerfile is executed to produce the final image.
3. The resulting image is stored in Convoy Cloud's private registry.
4. The image is deployed to your isolated environment.

Configuration options

Dockerfile path

By default, Convoy Cloud looks for a file named Dockerfile in the root of your repository. If your Dockerfile is in a different location, specify the path relative to the build context:

# Examples
Dockerfile              # default
docker/Dockerfile.prod  # custom location
services/api/Dockerfile # monorepo

Build context

The build context is the directory sent to the build process. It defaults to the repository root (.). For monorepos, set this to the subdirectory containing your application:

# Examples
.                 # default — entire repo
services/api      # monorepo — only the api directory
frontend          # monorepo — only the frontend directory

Files outside the build context are not available during the build.

Example Dockerfiles

Node.js application

FROM node:20-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build

FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --from=builder /app/package.json ./
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]

Python application

FROM python:3.12-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["gunicorn", "--bind", "0.0.0.0:8080", "app:app"]

Go application

FROM golang:1.22-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY go.* ./
RUN go mod download
COPY . .
RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o server .

FROM alpine:3.19
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=builder /app/server .
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["./server"]

Build resources

Each build runs with configurable resource limits:

• CPU: up to 2000m (2 vCPUs)
• Memory: up to 4 GB

Tips

• Use multi-stage builds to keep your final image small. Smaller images deploy faster.
• Order your Dockerfile layers so that infrequently changing steps (like dependency installation) come first. This maximizes cache hits.
• Ensure your app listens on the configured port (default: 8080). Convoy Cloud injects a PORT environment variable automatically.
• Use .dockerignore to exclude unnecessary files (like node_modules, .git, test files) from the build context.

Under the hood Dockerfile builds run with Kaniko.