Part 3 of 3

Free Stack Templates

Two common web stacks, pre-converted from Docker Compose to Apple Container. Grab them, swap in your project, go.

Template 1: Nginx + Node.js

A reverse proxy in front of an Express/Node.js API — the most common web stack pattern.

Docker Compose (original)

services:
  app:
    image: node:22-alpine
    working_dir: /app
    volumes:
      - ./src:/app/src
      - ./package.json:/app/package.json
    environment:
      - PORT=3000
      - NODE_ENV=production
    command: node src/server.js

  nginx:
    image: nginx:alpine
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf
    depends_on:
      - app

Apple Container — start script

#!/bin/bash
set -e
DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)

container machine create node-stack 2>/dev/null || true

container run --name node-app --machine node-stack \
  --env PORT=3000 --env NODE_ENV=production \
  --mount type=bind,src=$DIR/src,dst=/app/src \
  --mount type=bind,src=$DIR/package.json,dst=/app/package.json \
  node:22-alpine node src/server.js

# Wait for Node to be ready
until curl -s http://node-app.dev.internal:3000/health > /dev/null 2>&1; do
  sleep 1
done

container run --name nginx-proxy --machine node-stack \
  --mount type=bind,src=$DIR/nginx.conf,dst=/etc/nginx/nginx.conf \
  nginx:alpine

echo "Node app:  http://node-app.dev.internal:3000"
echo "Via Nginx: http://nginx-proxy.dev.internal"

nginx.conf (identical for both Docker and Apple Container)

events { worker_connections 1024; }
http {
    server {
        listen 80;
        server_name _;

        location / {
            proxy_pass http://node-app.dev.internal:3000;
            proxy_set_header Host $host;
            proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        }
    }
}

Template 2: Python + PostgreSQL

Django/FastAPI/Flask app with a PostgreSQL database — data persistence and inter-container networking.

Docker Compose (original)

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=app
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret
      - POSTGRES_DB=appdb
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data

  web:
    image: python:3.13-slim
    working_dir: /app
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://app:secret@db:5432/appdb
    volumes:
      - ./src:/app/src
      - ./requirements.txt:/app/requirements.txt
    command: uvicorn src.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
    depends_on:
      - db

volumes:
  pgdata:

Apple Container — start script

#!/bin/bash
set -e
DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)

PG_PASSWORD=secret

container machine create python-stack 2>/dev/null || true

# Create a named volume for PostgreSQL data
container volume create pgdata 2>/dev/null || true

container run --name postgres-db --machine python-stack \
  --env POSTGRES_USER=app \
  --env POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$PG_PASSWORD \
  --env POSTGRES_DB=appdb \
  --mount type=volume,src=pgdata,dst=/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  postgres:16-alpine

# Wait for PostgreSQL to accept connections
until curl -s http://postgres-db.dev.internal:5432 > /dev/null 2>&1; do
  sleep 1
done

container run --name python-web --machine python-stack \
  --env "DATABASE_URL=postgresql://app:$PG_PASSWORD@postgres-db.dev.internal:5432/appdb" \
  --mount type=bind,src=$DIR/src,dst=/app/src \
  --mount type=bind,src=$DIR/requirements.txt,dst=/app/requirements.txt \
  python:3.13-slim sh -c "pip install -r requirements.txt && uvicorn src.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000"

echo "API:      http://python-web.dev.internal:8000"
echo "Postgres: http://postgres-db.dev.internal:5432"

Key difference: In Docker Compose, containers reach each other by service name (db:5432). In Apple Container, they use the FQDN (postgres-db.dev.internal:5432). The connection string changes, but the behavior is identical.

Need More Templates?

The full manual includes 3 additional premium templates: Rails+Redis, Go+PostgreSQL, and a Microservices demo with 4 services.

$39 — Production Manual with 5 templates

Get the Production Manual

Or start with the Migration Guide ($29) — 2 templates included.