We often use Heroku to host Ruby and NodeJS apps. Heroku now lets you run Docker containers. This opens up the ability to replicate a local dev environment with (hopefully) little effort in which users can benefit from the ease of setting up a new site on Heroku, as well as from their deployment pipeline. Users can just run the Docker container they have already built which means having the exact same environment locally as in their deployed app.
When I tried to launch my first Docker site on Heroku, it wasn’t quite as easy as I had hoped. This video covers the basics of getting Docker running on Heroku and the solutions to a few of the issues that I ran into along the way.
Interested in exploring more? Check out these resources:
- Demystifying Docker
- Heroku’s Dev Center on Deploying with Docker
- Traits of a Build and Deploy Pipeline