Postgres Docker Container Setup

I prefer running Postgres databases in Docker containers, instead of with the standalone MacOS app or Linux packages. Configuring and managing Postgres instances with Docker offers a way better dev experience (especially when paired with Postico 2) and has great support for targeting specific versions of Postgres.

#Files Needed for a Dockerized Postgres Instance

#docker-compose.yml

services:
  db:
    image: postgres
    restart: always
    shm_size: 128mb
    env_file:
      - path: ./.env
        required: true
      - path: ./.env.local
        required: false
    volumes:
      - ./init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql
      - ./data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    ports:
      - 5432:5432

#Compose File Notes

• The first line under volumes initializes new databases with a hypothetical init.sql file. If you do not need this, simply remove that line to skip the initialization step.
• This config supports an optional .env.local file to add environment-specific overrides that can/should be added to .gitignore.

#.env

I use an .env file to track the expected/required fields, and override them in an .env.local file with actual logins on a per-environment basis.

This allows me to define the necessary connection values once for use on the Docker container configs and whatever CRUD app I might be building alongside the database.

POSTGRES_DB=db_name
POSTGRES_USER=db_user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=db_pass

#.gitignore

Environment-specific overrides and Postgres database files should not be tracked in git.

.env.local
data

#Running The Postgres Docker Image

After setting up the config files above, you can run docker compose up -d in the project root to start the Postgres database instance.

To stop the database instance, run docker compose down in the same directory.