home / skills / physics91 / claude-vibe / docker-reviewer
This skill reviews Dockerfiles and docker-compose for optimization, security, and best practices to improve build speed and image safety.
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---
name: docker-reviewer
description: |
WHEN: Dockerfile review, multi-stage builds, layer optimization, docker-compose
WHAT: Image optimization + Layer caching + Security scanning + Compose best practices + Build efficiency
WHEN NOT: Kubernetes → k8s-reviewer, Terraform → terraform-reviewer
---
# Docker Reviewer Skill
## Purpose
Reviews Dockerfiles and docker-compose configurations for optimization, security, and best practices.
## When to Use
- Dockerfile code review
- Docker image optimization
- docker-compose.yml review
- Container security audit
- Build time optimization
## Project Detection
- `Dockerfile` in project
- `docker-compose.yml` or `docker-compose.yaml`
- `.dockerignore` file
- `Dockerfile.*` variants
## Workflow
### Step 1: Analyze Project
```
**Base Image**: node:20-alpine
**Build Type**: Multi-stage
**Compose**: v3.8
**Registry**: Docker Hub / ECR / GCR
```
### Step 2: Select Review Areas
**AskUserQuestion:**
```
"Which areas to review?"
Options:
- Full Docker review (recommended)
- Dockerfile optimization
- Layer caching strategy
- Security hardening
- docker-compose review
multiSelect: true
```
## Detection Rules
### Image Optimization
| Check | Recommendation | Severity |
|-------|----------------|----------|
| Large base image | Use alpine/slim/distroless | HIGH |
| No multi-stage build | Add build stage | MEDIUM |
| Too many layers | Combine RUN commands | MEDIUM |
| Installing dev deps | Separate build/runtime | HIGH |
```dockerfile
# BAD: Large image with dev dependencies
FROM node:20
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN npm install
RUN npm run build
CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]
# Result: ~1GB image
# GOOD: Multi-stage with alpine
FROM node:20-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
RUN npm run build
FROM node:20-alpine AS runner
WORKDIR /app
ENV NODE_ENV=production
COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
USER node
CMD ["node", "dist/index.js"]
# Result: ~150MB image
```
### Layer Caching
| Check | Recommendation | Severity |
|-------|----------------|----------|
| COPY . before install | Copy package files first | HIGH |
| No .dockerignore | Add .dockerignore | MEDIUM |
| Changing files early | Order by change frequency | MEDIUM |
```dockerfile
# BAD: Cache invalidation on every code change
FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY . . # Invalidates cache on ANY change
RUN npm install # Always reinstalls
# GOOD: Leverage layer caching
FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./ # Only invalidates on package change
RUN npm ci # Cached if packages unchanged
COPY . . # Code changes don't affect npm cache
RUN npm run build
```
```gitignore
# .dockerignore
node_modules
.git
.gitignore
*.md
.env*
dist
coverage
.nyc_output
```
### Security
| Check | Recommendation | Severity |
|-------|----------------|----------|
| Running as root | Add USER directive | CRITICAL |
| Latest tag | Pin specific version | HIGH |
| Secrets in build | Use build secrets | CRITICAL |
| No health check | Add HEALTHCHECK | MEDIUM |
```dockerfile
# BAD: Security issues
FROM node:latest # Unpinned version
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
ENV API_KEY=secret123 # Secret in image!
RUN npm install
CMD ["node", "index.js"] # Running as root
# GOOD: Secure Dockerfile
FROM node:20.10-alpine AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production
FROM node:20.10-alpine
WORKDIR /app
# Create non-root user
RUN addgroup -g 1001 appgroup && \
adduser -u 1001 -G appgroup -s /bin/sh -D appuser
COPY --from=builder --chown=appuser:appgroup /app/node_modules ./node_modules
COPY --chown=appuser:appgroup . .
USER appuser
HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=3s --start-period=5s --retries=3 \
CMD wget --quiet --tries=1 --spider http://localhost:3000/health || exit 1
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "index.js"]
```
### Build Secrets (Docker BuildKit)
```dockerfile
# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1.4
FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
# Mount secret during build (not stored in layer)
RUN --mount=type=secret,id=npm_token \
NPM_TOKEN=$(cat /run/secrets/npm_token) \
npm ci
# Build command:
# DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1 docker build --secret id=npm_token,src=.npmrc .
```
### RUN Optimization
| Check | Recommendation | Severity |
|-------|----------------|----------|
| Multiple RUN for cleanup | Combine in single RUN | MEDIUM |
| No cleanup after install | Remove cache in same layer | MEDIUM |
```dockerfile
# BAD: Multiple layers, cache not cleaned
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y curl
RUN apt-get clean
# GOOD: Single layer with cleanup
RUN apt-get update && \
apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends curl && \
apt-get clean && \
rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
```
### Docker Compose
| Check | Recommendation | Severity |
|-------|----------------|----------|
| No resource limits | Add deploy.resources | HIGH |
| No health checks | Add healthcheck | MEDIUM |
| Hardcoded config | Use environment variables | MEDIUM |
| No restart policy | Add restart: unless-stopped | MEDIUM |
```yaml
# BAD: Minimal compose
version: '3.8'
services:
app:
build: .
ports:
- "3000:3000"
db:
image: postgres
environment:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password123
# GOOD: Production-ready compose
version: '3.8'
services:
app:
build:
context: .
dockerfile: Dockerfile
ports:
- "3000:3000"
environment:
- NODE_ENV=production
- DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:${DB_PASSWORD}@db:5432/app
depends_on:
db:
condition: service_healthy
restart: unless-stopped
deploy:
resources:
limits:
cpus: '1'
memory: 512M
reservations:
cpus: '0.5'
memory: 256M
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "wget", "-q", "--spider", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 10s
retries: 3
start_period: 40s
db:
image: postgres:15-alpine
environment:
POSTGRES_USER: user
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
POSTGRES_DB: app
volumes:
- postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
restart: unless-stopped
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U user -d app"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
volumes:
postgres_data:
```
## Response Template
```
## Docker Review Results
**Project**: [name]
**Base Image**: node:20-alpine
**Build**: Multi-stage | **Compose**: v3.8
### Image Optimization
| Status | File | Issue |
|--------|------|-------|
| HIGH | Dockerfile | Using node:latest (~1GB) |
### Layer Caching
| Status | File | Issue |
|--------|------|-------|
| HIGH | Dockerfile:5 | COPY . before npm install |
### Security
| Status | File | Issue |
|--------|------|-------|
| CRITICAL | Dockerfile | Running as root user |
### Compose
| Status | File | Issue |
|--------|------|-------|
| HIGH | docker-compose.yml | No resource limits |
### Recommended Actions
1. [ ] Switch to node:20-alpine base image
2. [ ] Add multi-stage build
3. [ ] Add USER directive for non-root
4. [ ] Add resource limits in compose
```
## Best Practices
1. **Base Image**: Use alpine/slim/distroless
2. **Multi-stage**: Separate build and runtime
3. **Caching**: Order by change frequency
4. **Security**: Non-root, pinned versions, no secrets
5. **Compose**: Health checks, resource limits
## Integration
- `k8s-reviewer`: Kubernetes deployments
- `security-scanner`: Container security
- `ci-cd-reviewer`: Build pipelines
This skill reviews Dockerfiles and docker-compose configurations to improve image size, build speed, security, and runtime reliability. It highlights multi-stage build opportunities, layer-caching improvements, secret handling, and compose production hardening. The goal is actionable fixes you can apply in CI or locally to reduce image size, speed builds, and reduce attack surface.
The skill scans project files for Dockerfile variants, .dockerignore, and docker-compose YAML. It detects base-image choices, layer ordering that impacts cache, missing multi-stage builds, security issues (running as root, secrets in image, unpinned tags), and compose omissions (resource limits, healthchecks). It produces prioritized findings with concrete remediation steps and sample snippets for fixes.
Will this skill fix files automatically?
No. It produces concrete recommendations and example patches; you apply changes in your repo or CI pipeline.
Does it scan Kubernetes manifests or Terraform?
No. It focuses on Dockerfiles and docker-compose. Use k8s-reviewer for Kubernetes and terraform-reviewer for Terraform.