Dockerizing a Next.js Application in 2025

Next.js continues to evolve rapidly, and in 2025 it remains one of the most powerful frameworks for building modern web applications. But when it comes to deployment, developers often hit the same challenge: how do you containerize a Next.js app in a way that is fast, secure, and production-ready?

In this post, we’ll walk through a practical Docker setup for Next.js, based on my production Dockerfiles repository. The goal is to give you a tested, minimal, and future-proof configuration you can drop into your own projects.

I’m a Docker Captain and the author of production-ready Docker samples for React.js, Vue.js, Angular, and more. As a front-end developer myself, I’ll walk you through these steps in plain language — no jargon, just practical advice you can apply today.

By the end of this post, you’ll have a fast, secure, and minimal Docker setup for Next.js that’s built for real-world production.

Why Dockerize Next.js?

Before jumping into code, let’s answer the big question: why bother?
I will spot only 3 reasons:

• Consistency: Same environment across local, staging, and production, no more — “It is working on my machine” problems.
• Scalability: Run anywhere — Locally, Cloud…