Docker container doesn't reload Angular app

My solution using node:slim.

No need for copying data into containers. Just use volumes.

Dockerfile:

NOTE: --poll 1

FROM node:slim

RUN npm install @angular/cli@latest -g

RUN mkdir -p /home/boilerplate

WORKDIR /home/boilerplate

EXPOSE 4200

CMD ng serve --port 4200 --host 0.0.0.0 --poll 1

Compose:

  project:
    image: project
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: projectdir/Dockerfile
    volumes:
    - ./projectdir:/home/boilerplate
    ports:
    - 4200:4200

A solution can be the chokidar wrapper, which is a dependency of the angular package. I dont know, if that was the status in 2017. You don't need to expose any extra ports. Just use an environment variable in your docker-compose.

Basic configuration:

Dockerfile

CMD ng serve --host 0.0.0.0

docker-compose.yml

environment:
  - CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=true

This should hot-reloading your browser. Tested on Chrome and Angular 8

Package for further investigation: https://github.com/paulmillr/chokidar

Another solution without polling.

Background:

I work on large Angular and React projects, the polling even every 10 seconds (--poll 10000) produce a lot of network traffic (in task manager you can check performance of docker nat interface). And in turn it produces high CPU load.

Solution:

If you use phpStorm/other Intellij produce or VS code you can add File watchers. I wrote the following script that helps me with this:

#!/bin/bash

image="${*:1:1}"
file="${*:2}"
machine=$(docker ps --filter ancestor="$image" --format "{{.ID}}")

if [ -n "$machine" ]
  then
    docker exec "$machine" touch "$file"
fi

After that I added following File Watcher (notice that the Trigger is switched off on external events):

Notes: It is important that your docker exec has no parameter -it as tty or interactive parameters requires to use winpty (located where git bash is installed). Also this solution is not Angular specific it is more docker specific, works the same for any webpack-dev-server app.

Also, phpStorm periodically shows File Cache Conflict dialog about file difference. To disable this prompt one can switched off file sync. https://stackoverflow.com/a/6628645

Thanks to all answers, so I create a working example for 2021 (tested on Windows machine).

STEP 1: Create new Angular project using Angular CLI

STEP 2: Add new script in package.json

"start:dev": "npx ng serve --host 0.0.0.0 --poll"

Use npx ng ... so you don't have to install Angular CLI globally in Dockerfile.

STEP 3: Create Dockerfile inside Angular root project folder

FROM node:12-alpine
WORKDIR /usr/src/app

COPY package.json ./

RUN npm install --silent

STEP 4: Create docker-compose.yml outside Angular project folder (so you can add further services later)

version: '3'
services:
  angular:
    build:
      context: ./angular
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    command: npm run start:dev
    volumes:
      - ./angular:/usr/src/app
      - /usr/src/app/node_modules
    ports:
      - 4200:4200

So you can open your local sourcecode, edit and see the changes on localhost:4200.

Hopefully, this answer helps some people.

This Angular Docker Hot-Reload Template works. It has all the relevant flags needed:

• --disable-host-check
• --poll 2000 Just for confirmed host environment, HOST=0.0.0.0 is passed.