bitnami/node

Bitnami Secure Image for Node.js

Node.js is a runtime environment built on V8 JavaScript engine. Its event-driven, non-blocking I/O model enables the development of fast, scalable, and data-intensive server applications.

Overview of Node.js Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

TL;DR

console
docker run --name node REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/node:latest

Note: You need to substitute the REGISTRY_NAME placeholder with a reference to your container registry.

Choosing between the Standard and Minimal image

This asset is available in two flavors: Standard and Minimal; designed to address different use cases and operational needs.

Standard images

The standard images are full-featured, production-ready containers built on top of secure base operating systems. They include:

• The complete runtime and commonly used system tools.
• A familiar Linux environment (shell, package manager, debugging utilities).
• Full compatibility with most CI/CD pipelines and existing workloads.

Recommended for:

• Development and testing environments.
• Workloads requiring package installation or debugging tools.
• Applications that depend on system utilities or shared libraries.

Minimal images

The minimal images are optimized, distroless-style containers derived from a stripped-down base. They only ship what’s strictly necessary to run the application; no shell, package manager, or extra libraries. They provide:

• Smaller size: Faster pull and startup times.
• Reduced *** surface: Fewer components and potential vulnerabilities.
• Simpler maintenance: Fewer dependencies to patch or update.

Recommended for:

• Production environments prioritizing performance and security.
• Regulated or security-sensitive workloads
• Containers built via multi-stage builds (e.g., Golang static binaries).

Supported tags and respective Dockerfile links

Learn more about the Bitnami tagging policy and the difference between rolling tags and immutable tags in our documentation page.

Get this image

The recommended way to get the Bitnami Node.js Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/node.

console
docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/node:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the https://hub.docker.com/r/bitnami/node/tags/ in the Docker Hub Registry.

console
docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/node:[TAG]

If you wish, you can also build the image yourself by cloning the repository, changing to the directory containing the Dockerfile and executing the docker build command. Remember to replace the APP, VERSION and OPERATING-SYSTEM path placeholders in the example command below with the correct values.

console
git clone https://github.com/bitnami/containers.git
cd bitnami/APP/VERSION/OPERATING-SYSTEM
docker build -t REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/APP:latest .

Entering the REPL

By default, running this image will drop you into the Node.js REPL, where you can interactively test and try things out in Node.js.

console
docker run -it --name node bitnami/node

Further Reading:

• nodejs.org/api/repl.html

Configuration

The following section describes how to run commands

Running your Node.js script

The default work directory for the Node.js image is /app. You can mount a folder from your host here that includes your Node.js script, and run it normally using the node command.

console
docker run -it --name node -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node \
  node script.js

Running a Node.js app with npm dependencies

If your Node.js app has a package.json defining your app's dependencies and start script, you can install the dependencies before running your app.

console
docker run --rm -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node npm install
docker run -it --name node  -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node npm start

or by modifying the https://github.com/bitnami/containers/blob/main/bitnami/node/docker-compose.yml file present in this repository:

yaml
node:
  ...
  command: "sh -c 'npm install && npm start'"
  volumes:
    - .:/app
  ...

Further Reading:

• package.json documentation
• npm start script

FIPS configuration in Bitnami Secure Images

The Bitnami Node.js Docker image from the Bitnami Secure Images catalog includes extra features and settings to configure the container with FIPS capabilities. You can configure the next environment variables:

• OPENSSL_FIPS: whether OpenSSL runs in FIPS mode or not. yes (default), no.

Working with private npm modules

To work with npm private modules, it is necessary to be logged into npm. npm CLI uses auth tokens for authentication. Check the official npm documentation for further information about how to obtain the token.

If you are working in a Docker environment, you can inject the token at build time in your Dockerfile by using the ARG parameter as follows:

• Create a npmrc file within the project. It contains the instructions for the npm command to authenticate against npmjs.org registry. The NPM_TOKEN will be taken at build time. The file should look like this:

console
//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}

• Add some new lines to the Dockerfile in order to copy the npmrc file, add the expected NPM_TOKEN by using the ARG parameter, and remove the npmrc file once the npm install is completed.

You can find the Dockerfile below:

dockerfile
FROM bitnami/node

ARG NPM_TOKEN
COPY npmrc /root/.npmrc

COPY . /app

WORKDIR /app
RUN npm install

CMD node app.js

• Now you can build the image using the above Dockerfile and the token. Run the docker build command as follows:

console
docker build --build-arg NPM_TOKEN=${NPM_TOKEN} .

| NOTE: The "." at the end gives docker build the current directory as an argument.

Congratulations! You are now logged into the npm repo.

Further reading

• npm official documentation.

Accessing a Node.js app running a web server

By default the image exposes the port 3000 of the container. You can use this port for your Node.js application server.

Below is an example of an express.js app listening to remote connections on port 3000:

javascript
var express = require('express');
var app = express();

app.get('/', function (req, res) {
  res.send('Hello World!');
});

var server = app.listen(3000, '0.0.0.0', function () {

  var host = server.address().address;
  var port = server.address().port;

  console.log('Example app listening at http://%s:%s', host, port);
});

To access your web server from your host machine you can ask Docker to map a random port on your host to port 3000 inside the container.

console
docker run -it --name node -v /path/to/app:/app -P bitnami/node node index.js

Run docker port to determine the random port Docker assigned.

console
$ docker port node
3000/tcp -> 0.0.0.0:32769

You can also specify the port you want forwarded from your host to the container.

console
docker run -it --name node -p 8080:3000 -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node node index.js

Access your web server in the browser by navigating to http://localhost:8080.

Connecting to other containers

If you want to connect to your Node.js web server inside another container, you can use docker networking to create a network and attach all the containers to that network.

Serving your Node.js app through an nginx frontend

We may want to make our Node.js web server only accessible via an nginx web server. Doing so will allow us to setup more complex configuration, serve static assets using nginx, load balance to different Node.js instances, etc.

Step 1: Create a network

console
docker network create app-tier --driver bridge

Step 2: Create a virtual host

Let's create an nginx virtual host to reverse proxy to our Node.js container.

nginx
server {
    listen 0.0.0.0:80;
    server_name yourapp.com;

    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header HOST $http_host;
        proxy_set_header X-NginX-Proxy true;

        # proxy_pass http://[your_node_container_link_alias]:3000;
        proxy_pass http://myapp:3000;
        proxy_redirect off;
    }
}

Notice we've substituted the link alias name myapp, we will use the same name when creating the container.

Copy the virtual host above, saving the file somewhere on your host. We will mount it as a volume in our nginx container.

Step 3: Run the Node.js image with a specific name

console
docker run -it --name myapp --network app-tier \
  -v /path/to/app:/app \
  bitnami/node node index.js

Step 4: Run the nginx image

console
docker run -it \
  -v /path/to/vhost.conf:/bitnami/nginx/conf/vhosts/yourapp.conf:ro \
  --network app-tier \
  bitnami/nginx

Notable Changes

Starting January 16, 2024

• The docker-compose.yaml file has been removed, as it was solely intended for internal testing purposes.

6.2.0-r0 (2016-05-11)

• Commands are now executed as the root user. Use the --user argument to switch to another user or change to the required user using sudo to launch applications. Alternatively, as of Docker 1.10 User Namespaces are supported by the docker daemon. Refer to the daemon user namespace options for more details.

4.1.2-0 (2015-10-12)

• Permissions fixed so bitnami user can install global npm modules without needing sudo.

4.1.1-0-r01 (2015-10-07)

• /app directory is no longer exported as a volume. This caused problems when building on top of the image, since changes in the volume are not persisted between Dockerfile RUN instructions. To keep the previous behavior (so that you can mount the volume in another container), create the container with the -v /app option.

License

Copyright © 2026 Broadcom. The term "Broadcom" refers to Broadcom Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

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Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.