Pattern 1: Multi-Stage Builds
Keep your production images small by using multi-stage builds. The build stage has all your dev dependencies; the final stage only has the compiled output and runtime deps.
Pattern 2: Health Checks
Never deploy without health checks. A container can be "running" but completely broken. Health checks let Docker Compose and your orchestrator know the actual status.
Pattern 3: Named Volumes Over Bind Mounts
For production data, always use named volumes. They are managed by Docker, survive container recreation, and can be backed up independently.
Pattern 4: Network Segmentation
Put your database on an internal network that only your application can reach. Expose only the reverse proxy to the outside world. This is defense in depth at the container level.
Pattern 5: Environment File Separation
Use .env.development and .env.production files with the env_file directive. Never hardcode secrets in your compose file.