Does it make sense to set NODE_ENV=production in the Docker fiile for development environment?

[mrksph]

Summary

I was going through the docker-multienv example in the Next.js repo and noticed something curious in the Dockerfile for the development environment:

FROM base AS runner
WORKDIR /app

ENV NODE_ENV=production

Typically, setting NODE_ENV=production is meant for production builds. It enables optimizations like:

• Disabling development warnings
• Enabling production-specific behavior
• Optimizing build outputs for deployment

However, seeing this configuration in the development Dockerfile feels counterintuitive. It seems like this setup might disable features typically useful during development, like detailed warnings or dev-only tooling.

Questions:

1. Is this intentional?

   • Perhaps the idea is to mimic a production-like setup during development for consistency and to catch potential issues early.
   • Or could this just be an oversight?

2. Is this the best approach?

   • Using NODE_ENV=production during development could make debugging harder or impact workflows like hot reloading.
   • On the other hand, running in a production-like mode might help test how the app behaves in real-world conditions.

Observations:

The .env.production file is also being used instead of .env.development. If this is intentional, it reinforces the idea of simulating production during local development.
If it’s not, should the Dockerfile be updated to use NODE_ENV=development and the .env.development file instead?

Would love to hear thoughts on whether this setup makes sense or if there’s a better way to handle development environments in Docker.

Additional information

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Example

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