Dockerfile Best Practices: Secure, Efficient Container Images

February 22, 2026

Kubernetes

Dockerfile-Authoring, Image-Size-Reduction, Container-Hardening

Dockerfile, Multi-Stage-Builds, Container-Security, Image-Optimization, Distroless

Docker, Buildah, Hadolint

Dockerfile Best Practices#

A Dockerfile is a security boundary. Every decision – base image, installed package, file copied in, user the process runs as – determines the attack surface of your running container. Most Dockerfiles in the wild are bloated, run as root, and ship debug tools an attacker can use. Here is how to fix that.

Choose the Right Base Image#

Your base image choice is the single biggest factor in image size and vulnerability count.

Container Build Optimization: BuildKit, Layer Caching, Multi-Stage, and Build Performance

February 21, 2026

Cicd

Intermediate

Container-Build-Optimization, Dockerfile-Authoring, Ci-Pipeline-Design

Docker, Buildkit, Containers, Multi-Stage-Builds, Layer-Caching, Distroless, Kaniko, Ci-Optimization

Docker, Docker-Buildx, Kaniko, Ko, Jib

Container Build Optimization#

A container build that takes eight minutes in CI is not just slow – it compounds across every push, every developer, every day. The difference between a naive Dockerfile and an optimized one is often the difference between a two-minute build and a twelve-minute build. The techniques here are not theoretical. They are the specific changes that eliminate wasted time.

BuildKit Over Legacy Builder#

BuildKit is the modern Docker build engine and the default since Docker 23.0. If you are running an older version, enable it explicitly with DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1. BuildKit provides several capabilities the legacy builder lacks.