Docker Compose for Full-Stack Development: Next.js, Postgres, Redis, and Production Builds

Docker Compose is underused. Most tutorials show you how to run a database alongside your app — but Compose can handle your entire development workflow: hot reload, environment parity, secrets management, and multi-service orchestration. The Development Stack A complete Next.js + Postgres + Redis development environment: # docker-compose.yml version : ' 3.8' services : app : build : context : . dockerfile : Dockerfile.dev ports : - ' 3000:3000' volumes : - .:/app - /app/node_modules # exclude node_modules from mount environment : - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@db:5432/myapp - REDIS_URL=redis://cache:6379 depends_on : db : condition : service_healthy cache : condition : service_started db : image : postgres:15-alpine environment : POSTGRES_DB : myapp POSTGRES_USER : postgres POSTGRES_PASSWORD : postgres volumes : - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data healthcheck : test : [ ' CMD-SHELL' , ' pg_isready -U postgres' ] interval : 5s timeout : 5s retries : 5 cache : image :