docker-test-environments
// Docker-based test environment management for isolated, reproducible test execution. Create Docker Compose environments, manage test containers, configure service dependencies, and integrate with CI/CD pipelines.
docker-test-environments
You are docker-test-environments - a specialized skill for Docker-based test environment management, providing isolated, reproducible test execution capabilities.
Overview
This skill enables AI-powered test environment management including:
- Creating Docker Compose test environments
- Managing Testcontainers for integration tests
- Configuring service dependencies and health checks
- Database seeding and test data management
- Network isolation for test environments
- Environment cleanup automation
- CI/CD Docker integration patterns
Prerequisites
- Docker Engine installed and running
- Docker Compose v2 installed
- Sufficient system resources for containers
- Optional: Testcontainers library for language-specific integration
Capabilities
1. Docker Compose Test Environment
Create isolated test environments with Docker Compose:
# docker-compose.test.yml
version: '3.8'
services:
app:
build:
context: .
dockerfile: Dockerfile
environment:
- NODE_ENV=test
- DATABASE_URL=postgres://test:test@db:5432/testdb
- REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
depends_on:
db:
condition: service_healthy
redis:
condition: service_started
networks:
- test-network
db:
image: postgres:15-alpine
environment:
- POSTGRES_USER=test
- POSTGRES_PASSWORD=test
- POSTGRES_DB=testdb
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U test -d testdb"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
volumes:
- ./test-data/init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/init.sql
networks:
- test-network
redis:
image: redis:7-alpine
networks:
- test-network
networks:
test-network:
driver: bridge
2. Environment Lifecycle Commands
# Start test environment
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d
# Wait for services to be healthy
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d --wait
# Run tests against environment
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec app npm test
# View logs
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml logs -f
# Stop and cleanup
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down -v --remove-orphans
3. Testcontainers Integration
Use Testcontainers for programmatic container management:
// JavaScript/TypeScript with Testcontainers
import { PostgreSqlContainer } from '@testcontainers/postgresql';
import { RedisContainer } from '@testcontainers/redis';
describe('Integration Tests', () => {
let postgresContainer;
let redisContainer;
beforeAll(async () => {
// Start PostgreSQL
postgresContainer = await new PostgreSqlContainer('postgres:15')
.withDatabase('testdb')
.withUsername('test')
.withPassword('test')
.start();
// Start Redis
redisContainer = await new RedisContainer('redis:7')
.start();
// Set environment variables
process.env.DATABASE_URL = postgresContainer.getConnectionUri();
process.env.REDIS_URL = redisContainer.getConnectionUrl();
}, 60000);
afterAll(async () => {
await postgresContainer?.stop();
await redisContainer?.stop();
});
it('should connect to database', async () => {
// Test implementation
});
});
# Python with Testcontainers
import pytest
from testcontainers.postgres import PostgresContainer
from testcontainers.redis import RedisContainer
@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
def postgres_container():
with PostgresContainer("postgres:15") as postgres:
yield postgres
@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
def redis_container():
with RedisContainer("redis:7") as redis:
yield redis
def test_database_connection(postgres_container):
connection_url = postgres_container.get_connection_url()
# Test implementation
4. Health Check Patterns
Configure robust health checks:
services:
api:
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/health"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3
start_period: 30s
db:
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
elasticsearch:
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -s http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health | grep -q 'green\\|yellow'"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 10s
retries: 10
start_period: 60s
kafka:
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "kafka-topics.sh --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 --list"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 10s
retries: 5
5. Database Seeding
Seed test data automatically:
# SQL initialization
cat > test-data/init.sql << 'EOF'
-- Create test schema
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS test;
-- Create tables
CREATE TABLE test.users (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
email VARCHAR(255) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);
-- Insert test data
INSERT INTO test.users (email, name) VALUES
('test1@example.com', 'Test User 1'),
('test2@example.com', 'Test User 2');
EOF
# Mount initialization scripts
services:
db:
volumes:
- ./test-data/init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/01-init.sql
- ./test-data/seed.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/02-seed.sql
6. Network Isolation
Configure isolated test networks:
# Multiple isolated test environments
networks:
test-network-a:
driver: bridge
internal: true
test-network-b:
driver: bridge
internal: true
external-network:
driver: bridge
services:
app-a:
networks:
- test-network-a
- external-network
app-b:
networks:
- test-network-b
- external-network
# Shared service
mock-server:
networks:
- external-network
7. CI/CD Integration
# GitHub Actions example
name: Integration Tests
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs:
test:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Start test environment
run: |
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d --wait
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml ps
- name: Run tests
run: |
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml exec -T app npm test
- name: Collect logs on failure
if: failure()
run: |
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml logs > test-logs.txt
- name: Upload logs
if: failure()
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
with:
name: test-logs
path: test-logs.txt
- name: Cleanup
if: always()
run: |
docker compose -f docker-compose.test.yml down -v --remove-orphans
Common Service Templates
PostgreSQL
postgres:
image: postgres:15-alpine
environment:
POSTGRES_USER: test
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
POSTGRES_DB: testdb
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U test"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
MySQL
mysql:
image: mysql:8
environment:
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
MYSQL_DATABASE: testdb
MYSQL_USER: test
MYSQL_PASSWORD: test
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "mysqladmin", "ping", "-h", "localhost"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
MongoDB
mongo:
image: mongo:6
environment:
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_USERNAME: test
MONGO_INITDB_ROOT_PASSWORD: test
healthcheck:
test: echo 'db.runCommand("ping").ok' | mongosh localhost:27017/test --quiet
interval: 10s
timeout: 10s
retries: 5
Redis
redis:
image: redis:7-alpine
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
interval: 5s
timeout: 5s
retries: 5
Elasticsearch
elasticsearch:
image: elasticsearch:8.11.0
environment:
- discovery.type=single-node
- xpack.security.enabled=false
- ES_JAVA_OPTS=-Xms512m -Xmx512m
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -s http://localhost:9200 | grep -q 'cluster_name'"]
interval: 10s
timeout: 10s
retries: 10
Kafka
kafka:
image: confluentinc/cp-kafka:7.5.0
environment:
KAFKA_BROKER_ID: 1
KAFKA_ZOOKEEPER_CONNECT: zookeeper:2181
KAFKA_ADVERTISED_LISTENERS: PLAINTEXT://kafka:9092
KAFKA_OFFSETS_TOPIC_REPLICATION_FACTOR: 1
depends_on:
- zookeeper
MCP Server Integration
This skill can leverage the following MCP servers for enhanced capabilities:
| Server | Description | Installation |
|---|---|---|
| QuantGeekDev/docker-mcp | Docker container management | GitHub |
| Docker MCP Toolkit | Official Docker MCP | Docker Blog |
| Docker Hub MCP | Docker Hub integration | Docker |
Best Practices
- Use specific image tags - Avoid
latestfor reproducibility - Health checks - Always configure health checks for dependencies
- Resource limits - Set memory/CPU limits for containers
- Cleanup - Always cleanup volumes with
-vflag - Wait for ready - Use
--waitor health checks before tests - Isolation - Use dedicated networks for test environments
- Ephemeral data - Never mount production data volumes
Process Integration
This skill integrates with the following processes:
environment-management.js- All phases of environment setuptest-data-management.js- Data seeding and cleanupautomation-framework.js- Test framework environment setupcontinuous-testing.js- CI/CD environment management
Output Format
When executing operations, provide structured output:
{
"operation": "start-environment",
"composeFile": "docker-compose.test.yml",
"status": "running",
"services": {
"app": { "status": "running", "health": "healthy" },
"db": { "status": "running", "health": "healthy" },
"redis": { "status": "running", "health": "healthy" }
},
"network": "test-network",
"connectionStrings": {
"database": "postgres://test:test@localhost:5432/testdb",
"redis": "redis://localhost:6379"
}
}
Error Handling
- Check Docker daemon connectivity
- Verify image availability before starting
- Handle container startup failures gracefully
- Provide diagnostic logs on failure
- Implement retry logic for flaky containers
Constraints
- Do not expose production data in test environments
- Limit resource consumption to prevent system issues
- Always cleanup environments after tests
- Use appropriate isolation for parallel tests
- Respect port allocation to avoid conflicts