Nodemon doesn't reload in docker container when files change

Question

I read many threads sabout this but no one solves anything.

Some say you have to add --legacy-watch (or -L) to the nodemon command. Others shows several different configurations and apparently nodody really knows what you gotta do to achieve server restarting when a file change at the volume inside a docker container.

Here my configuration so far:

Dockerfile:

FROM node:latest

# Create app directory
RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app
WORKDIR /usr/src/app

# install nodemon globally
RUN npm install nodemon -g

# Install dependencies
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install

# Bundle app source
COPY . /usr/src/app

# Exports
EXPOSE 3000

CMD ["npm", "start"]

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.1'

services:
    node:
        build: .
        user: "node"
        volumes:
        - ./:/usr/src/app
        ports: 
            - 3000:3000
        depends_on: 
            - mongo
        working_dir: /usr/src/app
        environment:
        - NODE_ENV=production
        expose:
        - "3000"
    mongo:
        image: mongo
        expose:
        - 27017
        volumes:
        - ./data/db:/data/db
        environment:
            MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME: root
            MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD: example

package.json

{
  "name": "node-playground",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "",
  "main": "index.js",
  "scripts": {
    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
    "start": "nodemon -L"
  },
  "keywords": [],
  "author": "",
  "license": "ISC",
  "dependencies": {
    "ejs": "^2.7.1",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "mongoose": "^5.7.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "nodemon": "^1.19.2"
  }
}

I tried many different setups as well. Like not installing globally nodemon but only as a project dependency. And also running the command at the docker-compse.yml, and i believe many others I don't remember right now. Nothing.

If someone has any cetainty about this, please help. Thanks!!!!

Answer 1

Try it! This worked for me:

Via the CLI, use either --legacy-watch or -L for short. More informations here.