Create and verify a Docker setup

Learn how to use Warp’s coding agent to containerize your application, then build and test the application locally.

Warp’s AI can analyze your codebase and generate Dockerfiles, .dockerignore, and docker-compose.yml. Review the generated files for your application’s dependencies, startup commands, networking, and secret handling before building the image.

Although this example uses a generic web app, the same pattern applies to Python, Node.js, Go, and other ecosystems.

1. The challenge

   You’ve built your app and suddenly realize — it should have been containerized from the start.
   Manually configuring Docker files, image sizes, and environment variables takes time and breaks flow.

2. The prompt

   Use this prompt inside Warp’s AI input:

   "Analyze my project directory structure, package files, and configuration to propose a Docker setup for review. I need:
   
   A multi-stage Dockerfile optimized for my specific language/framework with proper layer caching, security best practices, and minimal image size
   A docker-compose.yml for both development and production environments with all necessary services, networks, volumes, and environment variable handling
   A comprehensive .dockerignore file that excludes unnecessary files but keeps what's needed for the build
   Startup scripts and health check configurations
   Documentation explaining each Docker command and why specific choices were made
   
   Explain your assumptions and the commands needed to build and test this application. Stop with the diff for my review; do not deploy or push an image."

   Check the detected framework, required services, and startup command against your application’s configuration.

3. Review and customize

   Review the generated files for:

   • Base image version and vulnerability findings
   • Build layer caching
   • Build and runtime dependencies
   • Environment variables and secret handling

   You can easily adjust service names or ports in the generated compose file.

   Run docker compose config to validate the Docker Compose configuration. Follow the build and startup instructions to build the images and run the application locally. Run the relevant application test and exercise a key user flow or API endpoint to check that the containerized application behaves as expected.

   Before deploying, review the configuration against your environment’s security access and recovery requirements.