Nodejs and React inside docker containers - node.js

Question

I am trying to run Node/React project inside Docker containers. I have a NodeJS server for the API's and the client app. I also have concurrently installed and everything works fine when running npm run dev.
This issue is when I run the server and app via a docker-compose.yml file I get the following error from the client:
client | [HPM] Error occurred while trying to proxy request /api/current_user from localhost:3000 to http://localhost:5000 (ECONNREFUSED) (https://nodejs.org/api/errors.html#errors_common_system_errors)
Here is the docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
frontend:
container_name: client
build:
context: ./client
dockerfile: Dockerfile
image: client
ports:
- "3000:3000"
volumes:
- ./client:/usr/src/app
networks:
- local
backend:
container_name: server
build:
context: ./
dockerfile: Dockerfile
image: server
ports:
- "5000:5000"
depends_on:
- frontend
volumes:
- ./:/usr/src/app
networks:
- local
networks:
local:
driver: bridge
Server Dockerfile
FROM node:lts-slim
RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
EXPOSE 5000
# You can change this
CMD [ "npm", "run", "dev" ]
Client Dockerfile
FROM node:lts-slim
RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
EXPOSE 3000
CMD [ "npm", "start" ]
I am using "http-proxy-middleware": "^0.21.0" so my setupProxy.js is
const proxy = require('http-proxy-middleware');
module.exports = function(app) {
app.use(proxy('/auth/google', { target: 'http://localhost:5000' }));
app.use(proxy('/api/**', { target: 'http://localhost:5000' }));
};

Answer 1

You should use container_name instead of localhost
app.use(proxy('/auth/google', { target: 'http://localhost:5000' }));
app.use(proxy('/api/**', { target: 'http://localhost:5000' }));
You can also check these details by inspecting your network using following command:-
docker inspect <network_name>
It will show all the connected containers to the network, also the host names created for those containers.
NOTE : Host names are created based on container_names otherwise based
on service names.