Docker Node Alpine Image Build Fails on node-gyp

For anyone using node:14-alpine, this fixed it for me: RUN apk add --no-cache python3 py3-pip make g++

For anyone using node:16.13-alpine3.15 (or close versions):

FROM node:16.13-alpine3.15

RUN apk --no-cache add --virtual .builds-deps build-base python3

WORKDIR /app

COPY package*.json ./

RUN npm install --production && npm rebuild bcrypt --build-from-source && npm cache clean --force 

Also stated in my post update, here's the Dockerfile I used to get things working:

FROM node:8.12-alpine
RUN apk add g++ make py3-pip
EXPOSE 8080
RUN mkdir /app
WORKDIR /app
COPY . /app
RUN npm install
CMD ["npm", "start"]

If your requirements demand your image minimize space, consider installing necessary packages with RUN apk add --no-cache --virtual [package-list] (instead of apk add [package-list]) and afterward clearing the cache in the image with RUN apk del .gyp.

Since you are using an Alpine version on docker, you may want to use as little space as you can, while fixing the node-gyp rebuild error. For that it is recommended to use the below command i.e. without using a cache and with a virtual package which can be deleted later on. Also you should combine the apk add and npm install commands together; this would help in further reducing space between docker cache layers.

FROM node:8.12-alpine
EXPOSE 8080
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN apk add --no-cache --virtual .gyp \
        python \
        make \
        g++ \
    && npm install \
    && apk del .gyp
CMD ["npm", "start"]