Docker for BSIT Capstone: 30-Minute Setup Guide (2026)

If your BSIT capstone runs locally on your laptop but breaks when you copy it to the panel’s machine, you need Docker.

This guide gets you from “never used Docker” to “my capstone runs anywhere in one command” in 30 minutes. Specifically tailored for BSIT students with PHP/Python/Node capstone backends.

Minute 0-5: Install Docker Desktop

Download Docker Desktop from docker.com/products/docker-desktop. Available for Windows, Mac, Linux. ~500MB install. Sign in with a free Docker Hub account.

Verify install:

docker --version
docker run hello-world

Minute 5-15: Write a Dockerfile for Your Capstone

The Dockerfile is a recipe: “start from base image, copy my code, install dependencies, run my app.” Examples for the 3 most common BSIT stacks:

Laravel / PHP:

FROM php:8.2-apache
RUN docker-php-ext-install pdo_mysql
COPY . /var/www/html/
WORKDIR /var/www/html
RUN composer install
EXPOSE 80

Django / Python:

FROM python:3.11-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
EXPOSE 8000
CMD ["python", "manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:8000"]

Node.js / Express:

FROM node:20-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["node", "server.js"]

Minute 15-25: Add MySQL with docker-compose.yml

Most capstones need a database. docker-compose runs your app AND a database together with one command.

version: '3.8'
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    environment:
      DB_HOST: db
      DB_NAME: capstone
      DB_USER: capstone_user
      DB_PASS: secretpass
    depends_on:
      - db
  db:
    image: mysql:8.0
    environment:
      MYSQL_DATABASE: capstone
      MYSQL_USER: capstone_user
      MYSQL_PASSWORD: secretpass
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: rootpass
    volumes:
      - dbdata:/var/lib/mysql
    ports:
      - "3306:3306"
volumes:
  dbdata:

Run everything:

docker compose up --build

Open http://localhost:8000. Your app + MySQL are running. To stop: Ctrl+C, then docker compose down.

Minute 25-30: Deploy to Render (Free Tier)

Render.com offers free Docker hosting (with auto-sleep after 15 min idle). Perfect for capstone demos.

1. Sign up at render.com (free, no credit card)
2. Push your code + Dockerfile to a GitHub repo
3. In Render: New + Web Service + Connect Repo
4. Render auto-detects your Dockerfile
5. Add environment variables (DB_HOST, etc.)
6. Add a free PostgreSQL database (Render provides; switch your code from MySQL to PostgreSQL OR pay $7/mo for Render MySQL)
7. Deploy. Get a public URL like https://my-capstone.onrender.com

Now your defense panel can access your app from anywhere. No “let me set up XAMPP first.”

Common Capstone Docker Issues

• “Cannot connect to MySQL”, in your app config, set DB_HOST to “db” (the service name in docker-compose), not “localhost” or “127.0.0.1”
• “Permission denied” on Laravel storage, add RUN chown -R www-data:www-data storage in Dockerfile
• “Module not found” on Django, run docker compose build --no-cache to rebuild after adding to requirements.txt
• Database empty on first run, normal; run migrations inside the container: docker compose exec app python manage.py migrate (Django) or docker compose exec app php artisan migrate (Laravel)

Related Guides

• Best Free Hosting for Capstone Projects
• DevOps Engineer Salary + Roadmap PH
• Laravel Projects (with Docker examples)
• Django Projects (with Docker examples)