How i use pglite on docker by alpine image ?

[seepine]

I use bun + elysia + drizzle-orm + pglite, and i run direct bun run src/index.ts, it can auto create pglite.data dir.

import { PGlite } from '@electric-sql/pglite'
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/pglite'

      const client = new PGlite('pglite.data')
      const db = drizzle({ client, schema, casing: 'snake_case' })

I use it on docker

FROM bun:alpine AS build
WORKDIR /work
COPY package.json bun.lock bunfig.toml tsconfig.json ./
RUN bun install
COPY ./src ./src
RUN bun run build

## js runtime, bun run build -js
FROM bun:alpine
WORKDIR /work
COPY --from=build /work/dist ./
COPY ./drizzle ./drizzle
ENTRYPOINT ["bun", "run", "index.js"]

I got error

elysia-template-1  | EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
elysia-template-1  |       fd: 15,
elysia-template-1  |  syscall: "read",
elysia-template-1  |    errno: -21,
elysia-template-1  |     code: "EISDIR"
elysia-template-1  | 
elysia-template-1  | 36 |   async queryWithCache(queryString, params, query) {
elysia-template-1  | 37 |     if (this.cache === void 0 || is(this.cache, NoopCache) || this.queryMetadata === void 0) {
elysia-template-1  | 38 |       try {
elysia-template-1  | 39 |         return await query();
elysia-template-1  | 40 |       } catch (e) {
elysia-template-1  | 41 |         throw new DrizzleQueryError(queryString, params, e);
elysia-template-1  |                    ^
elysia-template-1  | error: Failed query: CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS "drizzle"
elysia-template-1  | params: 
elysia-template-1  |   query: "CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS \"drizzle\"",
elysia-template-1  |  params: [],
elysia-template-1  | 
elysia-template-1  |       at queryWithCache (/node_modules/drizzle-orm/pg-core/session.js:41:15)
elysia-template-1  | 
elysia-template-1  | EISDIR: illegal operation on a directory, read
elysia-template-1  |       fd: 15,
elysia-template-1  |  syscall: "read",
elysia-template-1  |    errno: -21,
elysia-template-1  |     code: "EISDIR"
elysia-template-1  | 
elysia-template-1  | 
elysia-template-1  | Bun v1.3.9 (Linux arm64)
elysia-template-1 exited with code 1

my package.json

  "dependencies": {
    "@electric-sql/pglite": "^0.3.15",
    "drizzle-orm": "^0.45.1"
  }

[wesleysmyth]

The EISDIR error typically happens because PGlite tries to initialize its data directory and something about the Alpine container's filesystem conflicts. Two main causes:

1. Alpine uses musl libc — PGlite can have issues

PGlite bundles a WASM build of PostgreSQL. While WASM itself is libc-agnostic, PGlite's Node.js bindings and filesystem operations can behave differently on musl (Alpine) vs glibc (Debian/Ubuntu).

Fix: Switch to a Debian-based image:

# Instead of node:22-alpine or oven/bun:alpine
FROM oven/bun:latest
# or
FROM node:22-slim

This resolves most PGlite + Docker issues.

2. The data directory path conflicts

PGlite defaults to creating its data directory relative to process.cwd(). In Docker, this can conflict with the overlay filesystem.

Fix: Use an explicit absolute path on a proper volume:

import { PGlite } from '@electric-sql/pglite';

const db = new PGlite('/data/pglite');

FROM node:22-slim
WORKDIR /app
RUN mkdir -p /data/pglite
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
VOLUME ["/data/pglite"]
CMD ["node", "index.js"]

3. If you must use Alpine

Ensure the data directory exists and add glibc compatibility:

FROM node:22-alpine
WORKDIR /app
RUN mkdir -p /data/pglite && chmod 777 /data/pglite
RUN apk add --no-cache libc6-compat
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci
COPY . .
CMD ["node", "index.js"]

4. In-memory mode (if you don't need persistence)

const db = new PGlite(); // in-memory, no filesystem issues

TL;DR: Switch from Alpine to node:22-slim or oven/bun:latest — that alone fixes most PGlite Docker issues.

[seepine]

@wesleysmyth Hi, i try your all method but fail all.
I give minimum demo in #5374 (comment) , maybe pglite not support bun build.

[seepine]

The minimum reproducing case.

bun init
bun add @electric-sql/pglite

Touch index.ts

import { PGlite } from '@electric-sql/pglite'

const client = new PGlite(process.env.DATABASE_URL)
client.exec('SELECT 1').then((res) => console.log(res))

Dev

It can work.

$ bun run index.ts                
[
  {
    rows: [
      [Object ...]
    ],
    fields: [
      [Object ...]
    ],
    affectedRows: 0,
  }
]

In docker

Create Dockerfile

FROM oven/bun:alpine AS build
WORKDIR /work
COPY package.json tsconfig.json ./
RUN bun install
COPY index.ts index.ts
RUN bun build index.ts --outdir dist
ENTRYPOINT ["bun", "run", "dist/index.js"]

docker compose up

elysia-pglite-1  | ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/work/dist/pglite.data'
elysia-pglite-1  |     path: "/work/dist/pglite.data",
elysia-pglite-1  |  syscall: "open",
elysia-pglite-1  |    errno: -2,
elysia-pglite-1  |     code: "ENOENT"
elysia-pglite-1  | 
elysia-pglite-1  | ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/work/dist/pglite.data'
elysia-pglite-1  |     path: "/work/dist/pglite.data",
elysia-pglite-1  |  syscall: "open",
elysia-pglite-1  |    errno: -2,
elysia-pglite-1  |     code: "ENOENT"
elysia-pglite-1  | 
elysia-pglite-1  | 
elysia-pglite-1  | Bun v1.3.9 (Linux arm64)
elysia-pglite-1 exited with code 1

Direct run ts file

Maybe pglite not support bun build?
Change dockerfile direct run can work.

FROM oven/bun AS build
WORKDIR /work
COPY package.json bun.lock bunfig.toml tsconfig.json ./
RUN bun install
COPY index.ts index.ts
#RUN bun build index.ts --outdir dist
#ENTRYPOINT ["bun", "run", "dist/index.js"]
ENTRYPOINT ["bun", "run", "index.ts"]

elysia-pglite-1  | [
elysia-pglite-1  |   {
elysia-pglite-1  |     rows: [
elysia-pglite-1  |       [Object ...]
elysia-pglite-1  |     ],
elysia-pglite-1  |     fields: [
elysia-pglite-1  |       [Object ...]
elysia-pglite-1  |     ],
elysia-pglite-1  |     affectedRows: 0,
elysia-pglite-1  |   }
elysia-pglite-1  | ]

[seepine]

I found some about this

[Bug] Bun bundle not work with PgLite
electric-sql/pglite#414

Temporary solution
electric-sql/pglite#478 (comment)