How to copy files in dockerfile without root build context

[himat]

I'm trying to use spotty for the first time but I ran into an error after running spotty start and it tried to build my docker container:

 Step 2/5 : COPY requirements.txt requirements.txt
 COPY failed: file not found in build context or excluded by .dockerignore: stat requirements.txt: file does not exist

My directory structure

proj/
  docker/
    models.Dockerfile
  src/*
  requirements.txt
  spotty.yaml

Here's my dockerfile: docker/models.Dockerfile

FROM python:3.8.7-buster

COPY requirements.txt requirements.txt
RUN pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Here's my spotty config: spotty.yaml

project:
  name: model-server
  syncFilters:
    - exclude:
        - .idea/*
        - .git/*
        - .mypy_cache/*
        - '*/__pycache__/*'
        - '*/*.swp'
containers:
  - projectDir: /workspace/project
    file: docker/models.Dockerfile
    ports:
      # Server
      - containerPort: 5000
        hostPort: 5000
    volumeMounts:
      - name: workspace
        mountPath: /workspace
instances:
  - name: model-server-inst
    provider: aws
    parameters:
      region: us-east-2
      instanceType: t2.small
      dockerDataRoot: /
      volumes:
        - name: workspace
          parameters:
            size: 50
            deletionPolicy: retain
        - name: docker
          parameters:
            size: 10
            mountDir: /docker
            deletionPolicy: retain

I saw in the docs that Note: Spotty uses the directory with the Dockerfile as its build context.
So this seems like why I ran into this issue since the requirements.txt file is not present in the docker context.
And indeed, the command that spotty ran was
docker build -t spotty-model-server-model-server-inst-default:1616462585 -f /mnt/model-server-model-server-inst-workspace/project/docker/models.Dockerfile /mnt/ai-writer-model-server-ai-writer-model-server-inst-workspace/project/docker
whereas when I build my dockerfile locally, the last argument (the context) I would give to docker build is my root directory (/project), not /project/docker.

So is there a way to get around this, or does using spotty mean that I need to keep my dockerfile in my root directory? Or is there something I'm doing wrong.

[apls777]

So is there a way to get around this, or does using spotty mean that I need to keep my dockerfile in my root directory? Or is there something I'm doing wrong.`

Yes, you either should put the Dockerfile into the root directory of your project or copy the requirements.txt file inside the docker/ directory. In the first case, use a .dockerignore file to ignore potentially heavy directories that may slow down the building.

[himat]

Would it be possible to add a way to specify a root build context?
My project has multiple components/servers each of which has their own dockerfile, which is why I put them all in a docker/ dir in the root of my project.
So putting all the dockerfiles in the root isn't that pleasant, nor would copying the requirements.txt into that folder manually make much sense.

[apls777]

Yes, it's possible, but I'm not sure when I will be able to have a look.

[himat]

Not critical actually, I did what you said of putting the dockerfile in the root of the project. Thanks!