The Full Stack in Docker Compose

You will hand in

• compose.yaml with all services, networks, named volumes, and health checks
• compose.override.yaml for local dev (hot reload, exposed ports) and a .env.example
• Database migrations (Flyway) and seed data applied automatically
• A README: prerequisites, one command to start, how to reset data

1. 1

   Data services with health checks

   Done when: Postgres, Redis, and Kafka start and report healthy.

   • Postgres with pg_isready healthcheck and a named volume
   • Redis with redis-cli ping healthcheck
   • Kafka KRaft single node with a healthcheck using kafka-topics.sh --list; set advertised listeners for the Compose network

   Stuck? Hints

   • For Kafka, advertise kafka:9092 for containers; add a second listener on localhost:29092 only if you need host access.

   Prove it works

   terminalcopy cmd

   $ docker compose ps --format 'table {{.Service}}\t{{.Status}}'

   ── expected output ──

   SERVICE STATUS

   postgres Up 40 seconds (healthy)

   redis Up 40 seconds (healthy)

   kafka Up 38 seconds (healthy)

2. 2

   API and worker

   Done when: The API connects to all three; migrations and seed data run on startup.

   • Build the API image from Project 2
   • depends_on with condition: service_healthy
   • Flyway migrations in the API; a seed script for demo products
   • Worker service consuming orders topic

   Prove it works

   terminalcopy cmd

   $ curl -s localhost/api/products | jq length; docker compose logs worker | tail -1

   ── expected output ──

   24

   worker | Consumed OrderPlaced order-1001 → sending confirmation email

3. 3

   Frontend and Nginx

   Done when: React built in a multi-stage image and served by Nginx, which also proxies /api.

   • Multi-stage: node build stage → nginx runtime with the dist/ folder
   • Nginx config: try_files for SPA routing, location /api/ proxy to api:8080

   Prove it works

   terminalcopy cmd

   $ curl -sI localhost/ | head -1; curl -s localhost/api/actuator/health

   ── expected output ──

   HTTP/1.1 200 OK

   {"status":"UP"}

4. 4

   Developer experience

   Done when: Overrides for local dev, a Makefile, and a README.

   • compose.override.yaml: bind-mount source for hot reload, expose DB ports for local tools
   • Profiles for optional tools (--profile tools adds pgAdmin, Kafka UI)
   • make up, make reset (down -v + up), make logs

   Prove it works

   terminalcopy cmd

   $ time (docker compose down -v && docker compose up -d --wait)

   ── expected output ──

   real 1m12.4s

• Add Prometheus + Grafana to the Compose stack (Observability course)
• Use Testcontainers for the API's integration tests (Docker course)
• Add a GitHub Actions job that runs docker compose up --wait and an end-to-end smoke test

Résumé bullet

Built a one-command local environment for a 6-service stack (React, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, Nginx) with Docker Compose health-gated startup, reducing new-developer setup from 2 days to 15 minutes.

Demo script

• make reset on camera, then place an order
• Show the Kafka event consumed by the worker
• Kill Redis and show the app degrade gracefully