A Complete Guide to Using Environment Variables and Files with Docker and Compose
Environment variables and files play a crucial role in configuring and managing applications running inside Docker containers. They allow you to separate configuration from the application code, making your containers more portable and easier to manage across different environments. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore how to effectively use environment variables and files with Docker and Docker Compose.
Understanding Environment Variables
Environment variables are key-value pairs that provide a way to pass configuration information to applications running inside Docker containers. They allow you to customize the behavior of your application without modifying the code itself. Some common use cases for environment variables include:
- Configuring database connection details
- Setting API keys or authentication tokens
- Specifying application-specific settings
Docker provides several ways to set environment variables for your containers, which we’ll explore in the following sections.
