Confused about working with Docker guide for monorepos

[Jiralite]

Guide: https://pnpm.io/docker#example-2-build-multiple-docker-images-in-a-monorepo

For the monorepo example specifically, we see dist already exists before we are shown the Dockerfile. No problem, I can assume I can add that in the Dockerfile in a prior step to running pnpm deploy.

What immensely confuses me is the last section at the bottom of the page for pnpm deploy:

If there is a .gitignore file in the application directory then any files listed here are ignored.

Going back to the monorepo example, we see a .gitignore. The output, dist, will obviously be in this. So... won't that example simply... fail? pnpm deploy will not even copy dist because it is ignored, no?

[tt-a1i]

Good catch! The docs could be clearer here.

The key insight: pnpm deploy respects .gitignore by default, but you can override this.

Solution 1: Use --force flag

pnpm deploy --filter=app --prod /path/to/deploy --force

This ignores .gitignore and copies everything.

Solution 2: Build inside Docker after deploy
The example assumes you build BEFORE pnpm deploy. But you can also:

# Copy source first
COPY . .

# Install deps
RUN pnpm install --frozen-lockfile

# Build (creates dist/)
RUN pnpm --filter=app build

# Deploy (dist now exists and gets copied)
RUN pnpm deploy --filter=app --prod /app

Solution 3: Exclude dist from .gitignore during deploy
In your build script:

# Temporarily allow dist
echo "!dist" >> .gitignore
pnpm deploy --filter=app --prod /deploy
git checkout .gitignore

Best practice for Docker:
Build inside the container, then deploy. This ensures dist/ exists and isnt gitignored at deploy time since its freshly created.