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2. Multi-Stage Docker Build

Status: Superseded Date: 2026-01-30
Superseded: The multi-stage Dockerfile was replaced by a simple runtime-only Dockerfile that copies pre-built dist/ and node_modules/ into node:22-slim. Building happens locally via pnpm build before docker build.

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Context

The initial Docker image was 2.61GB, primarily due to:
  • Full node:22-bookworm base image
  • Bun included in final image
  • Dev dependencies in production build
  • Optional heavy dependencies (node-llama-cpp)

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Decision

Implement a 3-stage Docker build:
  1. Builder stage: Full build environment with Bun, pnpm, TypeScript
  2. Pruner stage: Run pnpm prune —prod to remove dev dependencies
  3. Runtime stage: Minimal node:22-slim base with only production deps
Key optimizations:
  • Remove node-llama-cpp optional dependency (700MB+)
  • Use node:22-slim instead of node:22-bookworm

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Consequences

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Results

  • Image size reduced from 2.61GB to 688MB (73% reduction)
  • Startup time remains under 10 seconds
  • Graceful shutdown in ~660ms

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Trade-offs

  • Image still larger than 300MB target due to irreducible core dependencies (playwright-core, pdfjs-dist, AI SDK clients)
  • Would require removing core functionality or using Alpine (with native dependency issues) to further reduce