bitnami/node-min repository overview

⁠Bitnami Secure Image for Node.js minimal

Overview of Node.js minimal⁠ 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.

Refer to our documentation⁠ to get started with the minimal container.

⁠ TL;DR

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

⁠ 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 attack 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 minimal Docker Image is to pull the prebuilt image from the Docker Hub Registry⁠.

docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/node-min:latest

To use a specific version, you can pull a versioned tag. You can view the list of available versions⁠ in the Docker Hub Registry.

docker pull REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/node-min:[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.

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 minimal REPL, where you can interactively test and try things out in Node.js minimal.

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

Further Reading:

• nodejs.org/api/repl.html⁠

⁠ Configuration

The following section describes how to run commands

⁠ Running your Node.js minimal script

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

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

⁠ Running a Node.js minimal app with npm dependencies

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

The process require using a full node image to run npm install, then the application including its modules can be mounted to be executed using the bitnami/node-min image.

docker run --rm -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node npm install
docker run -it --name node  -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node-min <app.js>

⁠ Accessing a Node.js minimal 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 minimal application server.

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

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.

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

Run docker port to determine the random port Docker assigned.

$ 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.

docker run -it --name node -p 8080:3000 -v /path/to/app:/app bitnami/node-min 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 minimal 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 minimal app through an nginx frontend

We may want to make our Node.js minimal 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 minimal instances, etc.

⁠Step 1: Create a network

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 minimal container.

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 minimal image with a specific name

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

⁠Step 4: Run the nginx image

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

⁠ 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

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0⁠

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.