🐳 Docker API

A simple Node.js + Express backend containerized using Docker.
This project was built as my first hands-on experience with Docker, where I explored how to containerize a backend service, manage environment variables, and run applications inside containers.

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🛠 Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express.js
• Containerization: Docker
• Environment: WSL (Ubuntu)
• Config: dotenv

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🚀 Features

• Simple REST API using Express
• Dockerized backend application
• Environment variable support using .env
• Runs in background using containers
• Easy container lifecycle management

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🌐 API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/	Returns status message
GET	/api	Returns JSON response

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⚙️ Setup & Usage

1️⃣ Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/shreya-mishra325/docker-api
cd docker-api

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2️⃣ Run locally (without Docker)

npm install
npm start

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3️⃣ Run with Docker

Build Docker image

docker build -t docker-api .

Run container

docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --env-file .env --name docker-api-container docker-api

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4️⃣ Verify container

docker ps

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5️⃣ View logs

docker logs docker-api-container

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6️⃣ Stop container

docker stop docker-api-container

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7️⃣ Restart container

docker start docker-api-container

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🌍 Access API

http://localhost:5000
http://localhost:5000/api

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⚠️ Challenges Faced

• Docker Desktop was consuming a lot of memory and frequently got stuck on "Starting Docker Engine"
• Even after multiple restarts, it didn’t work properly
• Had to uninstall Docker Desktop completely

👉 Final approach:
Switched to Docker inside WSL (Ubuntu), which was much lighter and worked reliably

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Other Issues

• .env file not found → commands were run from wrong directory

• .env not visible → learned hidden files require ls -a

• Container name conflicts → removed existing containers before running new ones

• Multiple unused containers → cleaned using:

  docker rm -f $(docker ps -aq)

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💡 Key Learnings

• Difference between Docker image and container
• How to containerize a backend service
• Using .env inside Docker
• Running containers in background
• Debugging Docker issues in real scenarios
• Using Docker efficiently via WSL instead of Docker Desktop