Keeping My Dev Machine Clean with Docker

If you’re a software developer, you know the deal: we’re always installing tools. Databases, message brokers, Redis—whatever the project calls for, we grab it. But here’s the thing: a lot of these tools only get used occasionally. Maybe I need RabbitMQ for a project one month, then it sits there unused until the next time I need it. Or maybe I just following a tutorial that used database that I rarely used like PostgreSQL.

Now, if all of these tools are installed directly on my laptop, they start to hog resources, slowing things down even when I’m not using them. It’s annoying to have my laptop feeling sluggish just because I’ve got background services running for stuff I don’t even need every day.

Enter Docker: My On-Demand Toolbox

To deal with this, I started using Docker to handle the tools I don’t need constantly running. With Docker, I can spin up a tool only when I need it and shut it down when I’m done. Super easy and way more efficient!

I also set up a few Docker Compose files for my go-to tools, so whenever I need, say, RabbitMQ or MongoDB, I just type docker compose up, and boom—my tool’s ready. And when I’m done, I just stop the container. I can even delete the image if I want to. Clean and simple.

Docker Compose Files for Common Tools

Here are the Docker Compose files I put together for a few popular tools. Just create a folder for spesific tools, like rabbitmq. Then create a docker-compose.yaml it that folder. Whenever you want to use it, just go to that directory, then run docker compose up. If you finished, just press Ctrl + C to stop the container. Feel free to use them if you’re looking to keep your dev environment streamlined!

---

1. RabbitMQ

Notes:

• For GUI, use guest:guest to login

services:
  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:3-management
    container_name: rabbitmq
    ports:
      - 5672:5672   # for sender and consumer connections
      - 15672:15672 # for serve RabbitMQ GUI
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Dev/docker/rabbitmq/data/:/var/lib/rabbitmq
      - ${HOME}/Dev/docker/rabbitmq/log/:/var/log/rabbitmq
    networks:
      - rabbitmq-network

networks:
  rabbitmq-network:
    driver: bridge

2. MongoDB

services:
  mongodb:
    container_name: mongodb
    image: mongo:latest
    ports:
      - 27017:27017
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/mongodb/data/:/data/db
    environment:
      MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME: your_username
      MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD: your_password
    networks:
      - mongodb-network

networks:
  mongodb-network:
    driver: bridge

3. PostgreSQL

Notes:

• From pgadmin GUI, please use host.docker.internal as host.
• You can remove pgadmin if you want.

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres
    container_name: postgres
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: your_password
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/postgresql/postgres/data/:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    ports:
      - 5432:5432
    networks:
      - postgres-network

  pgadmin:
    image: dpage/pgadmin4
    container_name: pgadmin
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
    ports:
      - 8888:80
    environment:
      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_EMAIL: [e-mail]
      PGADMIN_DEFAULT_PASSWORD: your_password
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/postgresql/pgadmin/data/:/var/lib/pgadmin
    networks:
      - postgres-network

networks:
  postgres-network:
    driver: bridge

4. MySQL

Notes:

• You can remove phpmyadmin if you want.
• From phpmyadmin GUI, please use host.docker.internal as host/server

services:
  mysql:
    image: mysql:latest
    container_name: mysql
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: your_password
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/mysql/data/:/var/lib/mysql
    ports:
      - 3306:3306
    networks:
      - mysql-network

  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:latest
    container_name: phpmyadmin
    depends_on:
      mysql:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: your_password
      PMA_HOST: mysql
      PMA_PORT: 3307
      PMA_ARBITRARY: 1
    ports:
      - 8080:80
    networks:
      - mysql-network

networks:
  mysql-network:
    driver: bridge

5. Redis

Notes:

• From redisinsight GUI, please use host.docker.internal as host
• You can remove redisinsight if you want.

services:
  redis:
    image: redis:latest
    container_name: redis
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/redis/redis/data/:/data
    ports:
      - 6379:6379
    networks:
      - redis-network
    entrypoint: redis-server --appendonly yes --requirepass granite97

  redisinsight:
    image: redis/redisinsight:latest
    container_name: redisinsight
    depends_on:
      redis:
        condition: service_completed_successfully
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/redis/redisinsight/data/:/data
    ports:
      - 5540:5540
    networks:
      - redis-network

networks:
  redis-network:
    driver: bridge

6. SonarQube

services:
  sonarqube:
    image: sonarqube:community
    container_name: sonarqube
    environment:
      SONAR_ES_BOOTSTRAP_CHECKS_DISABLE: true
    volumes:
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/sonarqube/data/:/opt/sonarqube/data
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/sonarqube/extensions/:/opt/sonarqube/extensions
      - ${HOME}/Development/docker/sonarqube/logs/:/opt/sonarqube/logs
    ports:
      - 9000:9000
    networks:
      - sonarqube-network

networks:
  # Create a new Docker network.
  sonarqube-network:
    driver: bridge

---

Wrapping Up

Using Docker for these tools has made my life so much easier. Now, instead of bogging down my machine with stuff I only need once in a while, I just spin things up as needed. No more unnecessary background processes, and no more cluttered dev environment.

So if your machine’s feeling the weight of too many tools, give this Docker approach a try. Hopefully, these Docker Compose files can help make your setup a little lighter and faster. Cheers!

Side Notes

• Please change the volume path to your desire. In my case, the volume of each tools will be in /Users/granitebps/Development/docker/{tools_folder}/. If you want it as is, thats fine. Just make sure folder Development/docker is exists in your $HOME folder.
• If you want to connect to the service from other docker container, please change from localhost or 127.0.0.1 to host.docker.internal. Basically, you cannot access localhost of the host machine from docker container, so to tell docker container to used localhost of the host machine, we changed it to host.docker.internal.
• If you want to use lighter version of every tools, you can append alpine on the image name. But make sure the image have alpine version in docker hub. Also, please note that alpine version have less functionality than the normal version.

Comments

[Damian Cyrus]

Hey, thanks for the information share!

Have you used dev containers? They are also quite good for this. But more on project related side rather than global.

Too bad that they have issues on Windows (my workstation) in some constellations. No issues on UNIX systems so far 😜

[webstuff]

can you add vhosts with docker compose?

[jurij whistler]

devilbox.org/ everything ready

[suryanarayanan035]

I agree that this is a good way to install tools which we might use only once in a while. Thanks for sharing this and I am following this approach directly.

[Denys Bochko]

good article. My whole dev setup is in docker, works quite well.

[Raja Genupula]

I agree. This way it is separating dev from operations people who should know end to end of how a service should run.