A transit app rebuilds the entire image when only an HTML asset cha…

Question

A transit app rebuilds the entire image when only an HTML asset changed because dependency installs sit after the full source COPY. How should the Dockerfile be ordered?

Accepted Answer

Copy package manifests and run dependency install before COPY of frequently changing app assets — Docker's cache is a lazy chef: if an early step changes, everything after gets recooked. Put the stable recipe (package.json and npm install) above the often-edited HTML so a tiny asset tweak only rebuilds the thin top layers.

Answer

COPY all application files first so npm install always sees a complete tree before caching

Answer

Run npm install in an init container at Pod start instead of during the image build

Answer

Put a DaemonSet rebuild on every node whenever HTML changes to bypass Docker cache

A transit app rebuilds the entire image when only an HTML asset changed because dependency installs sit after the full source COPY. How should the Dockerfile be ordered?

Short Explanation

Full Explanation