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Build an Image - Specify Dockerfile Location

How to choose a Dockerfile to build with Codefresh pipelines

Sometimes you have a project where the Dockerfile is not in the root folder of the project. Maybe the repository has multiple projects inside (each with its own Dockerfile) or you simply want to use a different folder for the Docker context

The source code of the repository is located at https://github.com/codefreshdemo/cf-example-dockerfile-other-location. Feel free to fork it if you want to follow along.

If you don’t already have a Codefresh account, you can easily create a free one from the sign-up page.

Building a Dockerfile from a different folder

By default docker uses the Dockerfile of the current folder if you run a single command like:

docker build . -t my-web-app

If your Dockerfile is in another folder then you need to specify it explicitly with:

docker build . -t my-web-app -f subfolder/Dockerfile

Codefresh supports a similar syntax as well. The dockerfile property of the build step can accept a full path.

Here is the full pipeline:

codefresh.yml

version: '1.0'
steps:
  main_clone:
    title: Cloning main repository...
    type: git-clone
    repo: 'codefreshdemo/cf-example-dockerfile-other-location'
    revision: 'master'
    git: github
  build_my_app:
    title: Building Node.Js Docker Image
    type: build
    image_name: my-app
    working_directory: '.'
    tag: 'master'
    dockerfile: docker/Dockerfile

This pipeline checks out the source code of the repository and then builds a dockerfile found at the subfolder docker while still keeping as Docker context the root directory.

Building a Docker image with specific Dockerfile

Building a Docker image with specific Dockerfile

You could also change the Docker build context by editing the working_directory property. By default it is looking at the root folder of the project, but any subfolder path is also valid.