# Containerize a Python App

## Overview

Containerization is the process of packaging your application and all its dependencies into a portable, reproducible container image. \
\
This ensures consistent behavior across development, staging, and production, no matter the environment. For operations teams, it means faster deployments, easier scaling, and rollbacks.

If you want to learn more about Docker, you can check our [blog](https://stakpak.dev/blog/2025/06/18/docker-for-software-engineers-everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started/) 

In this guide, we will Containerize a Python app

## Problem

Manually containerizing a Python app can be time-consuming 

* You need to identify the tech stack and dependencies.
* Write a Dockerfile that follows security and performance best practices.
* Test to ensure everything runs correctly in the container.
* Keep documentation up to date for future maintenance.

Small mistakes like missing dependencies, using an insecure base image, or skipping health checks can lead to production downtime, security risks, and wasted engineering time.

## How Stakpak Helps

Stakpak will follow the instructions from the [Dockerization](/docs/how-it-works/rulebooks/dockerization.md) [Rulebooks](/docs/how-it-works/rulebooks.md) to ensure a consistent process, and it will:

* Automatically analyze your code to detect languages, frameworks, and services.
* Then it generates a Dockerfile using the best practices like structure, testing, and security
* Then it tests the app to make sure it's working.
* Then it documents everything.

## Step-by-Step Guide

### Prerequisites

1. [Install Stakpak](/docs/get-started/install-stakpak.md)

Now we can start.

1. Open your terminal.
2. Go to the directory that has your application.
3. Open Stakpak by typing `stakpak`
4. Then just ask it to "Dockerize this app"

<figure><img src="/files/WCRPSoakmiOMWIndc7zg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

That's it, Stakpak will handle everything else, even testing

Want to see it in action? Here’s a real-time demo of Stakpak containerizing a Python app in 3 minutes.

{% embed url="<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK8Z7HsTjFA>" %}

## Extra Resources:

### Related Use Cases

* Migration & Modernization
* Multi-Cloud Portability
* CI/CD

and more...

### References

* [Install Stakpak](/docs/get-started/install-stakpak.md)
* [Docker for Software Engineers: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started](https://stakpak.dev/blog/2025/06/18/docker-for-software-engineers-everything-you-need-to-know-to-get-started/)
* [Rulebooks](/docs/how-it-works/rulebooks.md)
  * [Dockerization](/docs/how-it-works/rulebooks/dockerization.md)
* [Docker.docs](https://docs.docker.com/)
* [Python.docs](https://docs.python.org/3/)


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