Publish and Docker

Build once, run anywhere

dotnet publish -c Release produces the files to deploy. A multi-stage Dockerfile builds with the big SDK image and copies only the output into the small ASP.NET runtime image, which keeps the final image small and free of build tools.

From laptop to production

You publish a build, package it in a container, run it somewhere, and watch it.

Multi-stage Dockerfile

Replace Shop.Api with your project name. Recent .NET images run as a non-root user and listen on port 8080.

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:10.0 AS build
WORKDIR /src
COPY . .
RUN dotnet publish src/Shop.Api -c Release -o /app

FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:10.0
WORKDIR /app
COPY --from=build /app .
EXPOSE 8080
ENTRYPOINT ["dotnet", "Shop.Api.dll"]

Add a .dockerignore

Exclude bin/, obj/, .git/ and local secrets from the build context. It speeds up builds and prevents accidentally baking a secret into an image layer.

Quick check: Why use a multi-stage Dockerfile?

• The final image contains only what is needed to run
• It makes C# run faster
• Docker requires exactly two stages
• It removes the need to publish