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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/miikorz/DailyNews/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Docker Compose orchestrates the entire DailyNews stack — React/Vite frontend, Node.js/Express backend, and MongoDB — as three coordinated services that start, stop, and communicate with a single command. Each service runs in its own isolated container, with live volume mounts for hot-reloading during development and a named volume to persist your database across restarts.

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Prerequisites

Before running DailyNews with Docker Compose, make sure you have the following installed on your machine: Verify your installation: 
docker --version
docker compose version

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Services Overview

frontend

React/Vite application served by serve. Exposed on port 3000 and depends on the backend service. The ./frontend directory is mounted for live development.

backend

Node.js/Express REST API compiled from TypeScript. Exposed on port 3001, depends on mongo, and reads environment variables from the root .env file.

mongo

Official MongoDB image. Exposed on port 27017 with a named volume mongo_data that persists your database between container restarts.

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docker-compose.yml

The full Compose configuration that wires the three services together: 
version: '3'
services:
  frontend:
    build:
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
      context: ./frontend
    container_name: frontend
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./frontend:/frontend
    environment:
      - VITE_BACKEND_BASE_URI=http://localhost:3001/feed
    depends_on:
      - backend
  backend:
    build:
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
      context: ./backend
    container_name: backend
    ports:
      - "3001:3001"
    volumes:
      - ./backend:/backend
    environment:
      - PORT=3001
      - MONGO_URI=mongodb://mongo:27017/feed-db
    depends_on:
      - mongo
    env_file:
      - .env
  mongo:
    image: mongo
    ports:
      - "27017:27017"
    volumes:
      - mongo_data:/data/db
volumes:
  mongo_data:

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Backend Dockerfile

Located at backend/Dockerfile. Installs dependencies, compiles the TypeScript source with npm run build, and starts the compiled server via npm start (node dist/server.js): 
# Backend
FROM node:lts AS backend
WORKDIR /backend
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install
COPY . .
RUN npm run build
EXPOSE 3001
CMD ["npm", "start"]

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Frontend Dockerfile

Located at frontend/Dockerfile. Installs dependencies, installs the serve static file server globally, builds the Vite production bundle, and serves the dist directory: 
FROM node:lts as frontend
WORKDIR /frontend
COPY package.json .
RUN npm install
RUN npm i -g serve
COPY . .
RUN npm run build
EXPOSE 3000
CMD [ "serve", "-s", "dist" ]

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Common Commands

# Build images from source and start all services
docker-compose up --build

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npm Scripts

The backend/package.json includes four convenience scripts that wrap the raw docker-compose commands. Run these from the backend/ directory:
ScriptCommandDescription
npm run docker:builddocker-compose buildBuild (or rebuild) all service images without starting containers.
npm run docker:updocker-compose up --watchStart all services in watch mode — Compose re-syncs files on change.
npm run docker:downdocker-compose downStop and remove all containers; the mongo_data volume is preserved.
npm run docker:restartdocker-compose down && docker-compose up --buildTear down then rebuild and restart everything from scratch.
# From the backend/ directory
npm run docker:up        # start stack with watch mode
npm run docker:down      # stop stack
npm run docker:restart   # full rebuild and restart

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Volume Mounts

DailyNews uses volume mounts to keep your local source files in sync with the running containers:
  • ./frontend:/frontend — Your local frontend/ directory is mounted into the frontend container at /frontend. Any changes to source files are reflected inside the container without a rebuild.
  • ./backend:/backend — Your local backend/ directory is mounted into the backend container at /backend, enabling live restarts when using a file watcher such as nodemon.
  • mongo_data:/data/db — A Docker-managed named volume that stores MongoDB data files. This volume survives docker-compose down so your database is never lost between restarts. To wipe the database entirely, run docker-compose down -v.

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Accessing the Services

Once the stack is running, the three services are reachable at:
ServiceURL
Frontendhttp://localhost:3000
Backend APIhttp://localhost:3001
MongoDBmongodb://localhost:27017/feed-db
The backend exposes its feed routes under /feed — for example, GET http://localhost:3001/feed returns all aggregated news items.
The backend service uses env_file: .env to load the root .env file at the project root. If this file does not exist when you run docker-compose up, Docker Compose will throw an error. Create the file (it can be empty, or populated with your overrides) before starting the stack. See Environment Variables for details on what to put inside it.
To tail live logs from the backend container without attaching to all services, run:
docker-compose logs -f backend
This is especially useful when debugging MongoDB connection issues or inspecting incoming API requests.

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