TypeORM with Postgres docker

[boukmi]

Hi everyone,

First of all, thank you to the author of this repository, it is really helpful.
I took a look at the TypeORM sample and it looks like we need to manually start the docker image to be able to run the integration tests.

I guess my question is, is there a way to make NestJS automatically spin up the docker image during the test phase?

Thank you

[jmcdo29]

Would you like to do this purely with js/ts code, or would you like to use shell scripts as a part of the test flow?

[boukmi]

Hi Jay,
js/ts would the preferable solution for us, but I'm open to other solutions that will help accomplish this.

Thanks

[jmcdo29]

I've got some code in this repo here that fires up a docker compose instance if it's not already running. You could adapt this to be in a globalSetup file for jest if you wanted.

const runPostgres = async () => {
  ogma.debug('Checking if Postgres is running');
  const dockerStatus = JSON.parse(
    (await exec('docker compose -p test ps --format json')).stdout.toString(),
  );
  if (dockerStatus[0]?.State === 'running') {
    return;
  }
  ogma.debug('Postgres is not running. Starting via docker compose');
  await exec('docker compose -p test -f docker-compose.test.yml up -d');
  let exitCode = 1;
  do {
    try {
      await exec('nc -z localhost 35432');
      const exit = (await exec('echo $?')).stdout.toString();
      exitCode = parseInt(exit);
    } catch {
      exitCode = 1;
    }
  } while (exitCode !== 0);
  ogma.debug('netcat returned code 0. Finalizing wait time');
  await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
};

[boukmi]

Thank you Jay.
I'll give this a shot and hopefully this will work.

Thank you again, I really appreciate it.

[barraponto]

You should look into TestContainers

[TatyOko28]

Yes, you can automate spinning up a Docker container for Postgres during the test phase using tools like Testcontainers, Docker Compose, or by scripting it directly in your test setup.

✅ Best Option: Use Testcontainers to programmatically manage the lifecycle of Docker containers during your tests.
✅ Alternative: Use Docker Compose and manage the container lifecycle outside your application.