Docker infra for local development by paigewilliams · Pull Request #224 · Ecotrust/OH4S_Proteins

paigewilliams · 2026-05-20T19:59:57Z

Adds dockerfile and docker-compose for running locally. Also includes necessary changes to start the web server successfully. Includes documentation to run locally with docker. Also includes removing local_settings.py in favor of environment variables.

I am not sure if this is because of the database dump, but I am not seeing some images locally.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds Docker-based infrastructure intended to run the OH4S portal locally (alongside the existing Vagrant workflow), plus a few supporting app changes to improve startup behavior.

Changes:

Add Dockerfile, docker-compose stack, and DB init script for local development.
Add an entrypoint script to run migrations/static collection/seed data on container start.
Adjust Django form initialization to avoid DB queries at import-time; tweak Python deps (remove psycopg2 in favor of psycopg2-binary only).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 9 changed files in this pull request and generated 9 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
README.md	Adds Docker local-dev instructions (currently missing a required `local_settings.py` step).
docker/init-db.sh	Imports a SQL dump during first DB initialization.
docker/docker-compose.yaml	Defines `db` (PostGIS) + `web` services for local dev.
docker/.env.template	Template for docker-compose environment variables.
app/portal/requirements.txt	Removes duplicate `psycopg2` dependency (keeps `psycopg2-binary`).
app/portal/providers/forms.py	Moves dynamic choice generation into `__init__` (avoids import-time queries).
app/portal/portal/entrypoint.sh	Container startup script (migrate/collectstatic/seed/superuser/runserver).
app/portal/Dockerfile	Builds the Django app image (currently pinned to an incompatible Python version).
.gitignore	Ignores `.env.dev` and `db_dump.sql`.

Comments suppressed due to low confidence (1)

app/portal/portal/entrypoint.sh:29

python manage.py createsuperuser is interactive by default and will hang/fail in Docker, and it’s not actually checking “if not exists”. Use a non-interactive/idempotent approach (e.g., --noinput with env-provided credentials, or a small Django management command that creates the user only if missing).

echo "creating superuser if not exists..."
python manage.py createsuperuser

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paigewilliams · 2026-05-20T20:53:18Z

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+FROM python:3.12-slim


I'd rather use this base image and try to bump django versions than use a docker image for an older python version.

paigewilliams · 2026-05-21T16:04:23Z

+echo "loading initial data fixtures..."
+python manage.py loaddata fixtures/providers_20210524.json
+
+echo "creating superuser if not exists..."
+python manage.py createsuperuser
+


I should do this

We should also get/use a more up-to-date list of providers - this looks to be 5 years old.

paigewilliams · 2026-05-20T22:11:20Z

+## Choose your development environment: Vagrant or Docker 
+
+## Docker
+
+- In order to run the application with production data, locate a database dump of a production install. Add the dump to the `docker` directory and name it `db_dump.sql`. This is necessary for the `init-db.sh` script to run correctly.
+
+- Create an copy the `.env.template` file to a `.env` file in the `docker` directory. Add your environment variables to that file.
+
+- Move to the docker directory: `cd docker`
+
+- Start the docker containers: `docker compose up`
+
+- View the app at `http://localhost:8000`


I removed needs for local_settings.py

Next step: remove the need for Vagrant 😁

rhodges

Looks great!

rhodges · 2026-05-21T16:19:38Z

 ALLOWED_HOSTS = []
+ALLOWED_HOSTS_ENV = os.environ.get("ALLOWED_HOSTS")
+if ALLOWED_HOSTS_ENV:
+    ALLOWED_HOSTS.extend(ALLOWED_HOSTS_ENV.split(","))


rhodges · 2026-05-21T16:24:03Z

-        'USER': 'set_in_local_settings.py'
+        'NAME': os.environ.get('SQL_DATABASE', default='postgres'),
+        'USER': os.environ.get('SQL_USER', default='postgres'),
+        'PASSWORD': os.environ.get('SQL_PASSWORD', default=None),


PASSWORD, HOST, and PORT were omitted in the past to support the database using postgres as the owner and default user, which also bypassed the need for a password (providing these fields actually broke that workflow).

Explicitly creating a new PostgreSQL user with a password and making them the owner of the tables is MUCH more secure, and I like that you are re-investing some of the gains from the streamlining gains of dockerizing this tool into making deployments follow best practices!

rhodges · 2026-05-21T16:24:17Z

+MAPBOX_TOKEN = os.environ.get('MAPBOX_TOKEN', default='')

-from .local_settings import *
+try:


rhodges · 2026-05-21T16:24:55Z


 MIN_SEARCH_RANK=0.1
 MIN_SEARCH_SIMILARITY=0.25
+MAPBOX_TOKEN = os.environ.get('MAPBOX_TOKEN', default='')


What are we using MapBox for? GeoLocation?

I looked and found a commit where you, @rhodges, added MAPBOX_TOKEN to the local settings template in 2019. As well as its use for geocoding in models.py

rhodges · 2026-05-21T16:27:26Z

 pickleshare==0.7.5
 prompt-toolkit>=3.0.30
-psycopg2==2.9.10
 psycopg2-binary==2.9.10


I thought the pendulum had swung and psycopg2 was now being preferred over psycopg2-binary -- maybe this shift was between Django 3.2 and Django 4.2?

I could be 100% wrong, too.

rhodges · 2026-05-21T16:29:19Z

+## Choose your development environment: Vagrant or Docker 
+
+## Docker
+
+- In order to run the application with production data, locate a database dump of a production install. Add the dump to the `docker` directory and name it `db_dump.sql`. This is necessary for the `init-db.sh` script to run correctly.
+
+- Create an copy the `.env.template` file to a `.env` file in the `docker` directory. Add your environment variables to that file.
+
+- Move to the docker directory: `cd docker`
+
+- Start the docker containers: `docker compose up`
+
+- View the app at `http://localhost:8000`


Next step: remove the need for Vagrant 😁

pollardld

I added a couple comments. Neither comment is breaking or blocking this PR.

pollardld · 2026-05-21T18:14:35Z

+SQL_PASSWORD=
+SQL_HOST=
+SQL_PORT=db
+MAPBOX_TOKEN=5432


Looks like a couple values got swapped in the env template:
MAPBOX_TOKEN and SQL_PORT

pollardld · 2026-05-21T18:21:03Z

@@ -113,8 +116,11 @@
 DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',


I see a SQL_ENGINE variable in .env.template
have you considered pulling that in like you do for setting the values for Name, User, etc.?

paigewilliams added 3 commits May 15, 2026 08:19

initial docker setup

621ed6d

add init db script

1a0c2b4

update docs for docker local install

d6cba09

paigewilliams requested review from Copilot, pollardld and rhodges May 20, 2026 19:59

paigewilliams self-assigned this May 20, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of paigewilliams May 20, 2026 20:00 View session

Copilot AI reviewed May 20, 2026

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paigewilliams added 3 commits May 20, 2026 14:30

use env vars instead of local_settings.py

f594725

add checks for db_dump file

259a652

add condition for local_settings import to support vagrant setup

2be4fe2

rhodges approved these changes May 21, 2026

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pollardld reviewed May 21, 2026

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paigewilliams commented May 20, 2026 •

edited

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