Using Docker as a throwaway dev environment

Setting up a MERN stack locally usually means installing nvm, picking a Node version, installing MongoDB, and then juggling versions when a package won't build. It piles up fast and the versions start fighting each other.

I stopped doing that. Instead I run the whole thing out of Docker images and keep my machine clean.

Install Docker

Works on most Linux distros:

curl -o- https://get.docker.com | sh -x

Run a Node app

From your project directory:

sudo docker run -it -v $(pwd):/srv -w /srv -p 3000:3000 node:current npm run start:dev

• -it — interactive terminal
• -v — mount the current dir into the container
• -w — set the working directory
• -p — forward the port

Same idea for a Vite React project:

sudo docker run -it -v $(pwd):/srv -w /srv -p 5173:5173 node:current npm run dev

Run MongoDB

sudo docker run -d -p 27017:27017 --name my-demo-mongo mongo

No Node versions on my host, no local Mongo, nothing to uninstall later. When I'm done with a project I delete the containers and that's it.