enlace_docker

Docker / docker-compose backend strategies for enlace.

Installing this package adds four new mode values to app.toml:

Mode	What enlace does
docker	Build the app's Dockerfile, run the container, supervise, route HTTP to it
image	Pull a pre-built image, run it, supervise, route HTTP to it (no build step)
compose	docker compose up -d the app's stack, route HTTP to a declared service+port, down on shutdown
docker_attached	Route HTTP to an already-running container by name (no lifecycle management)

No code change in enlace is needed — enlace_docker registers via the enlace.backend_strategies entry-point group. Installing the package is enough.

Status

Scope: dev orchestration only. Production runs docker compose up out of band; enlace routes to it via the built-in mode=external. This package covers enlace serve / enlace dev. See enlace#3 for the design.

Install

pip install enlace_docker

Requires the docker CLI on PATH. Compose support requires docker compose (the v2 plugin, not the legacy docker-compose).

Usage

Network exposure

Containers enlace starts (docker, image modes) publish their port on the host's loopback interface only (127.0.0.1:<port>:<port>), so they are reachable solely through the enlace gateway, where auth is applied. For compose and docker_attached, the port mapping is yours: enlace logs a warning when the routed port is published on a non-loopback address — publish it as "127.0.0.1::<port>" (compose) or -p 127.0.0.1:<port>:<port> (docker run). Note that on Docker Engine < 28, hosts on the same L2 network could still reach loopback-published ports (moby/moby#45610).

Dockerfile-per-app

# apps/myapp/app.toml
[app]
mode = "docker"
port = 8080            # in-container port to expose
dockerfile = "Dockerfile"   # default
context = "."               # default
build_args = { ENV = "dev" }
env = { LOG_LEVEL = "info" }

Pre-built image

[app]
mode = "image"
image = "ghcr.io/myorg/myapp:1.2.3"
port = 8080
env = { LOG_LEVEL = "info" }

docker-compose

[app]
mode = "compose"
compose_file = "docker-compose.yml"   # default
service = "web"                       # which service receives HTTP
port = 8080                           # service's internal port

Already-running container

[app]
mode = "docker_attached"
container = "my-running-container"
port = 8080

How it works

Each mode registers a BackendStrategy against enlace's open/closed extension point. The strategy provides:

• a TOML field overlay so app.toml carries docker-specific config;
• a make_asgi that proxies HTTP to the container's published host port;
• a make_lifecycle (for the supervisable modes) that shells out to docker / docker compose for start, stop, health, and log streaming.

License

Apache-2.0.