Docker Compose local development with wildcard DNS for multi-domain development

docker-compose.yml

version: '3'

# vcap.me is a wildcard domain that resolves to localhost
# in case you need to pass URL's around from browser to 
# containers this could help you get around localhost problem

services:
    # use www.vcap.me to access web containter from host
    # use api.vcap.me to access api container from host
    proxy:
        image: nginx
        volumes:
            - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf:ro
        ports:
            - '80:80'
    # web can talk to api directly via api.vcap.me
    web:
        image: httpd
        volumes:
            - ./web:/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/
        # maybe your web container needs to access api container
        # but use a URL fed to it by browser on host
        # this will re-map the DNS to prevent localhost
        # note this doesn't work in Swarm, only for local dev
        external_links:
            - api:api.vcap.me
    api:
        image: httpd
        volumes:
            - ./api:/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/

nginx.conf

server {

    server_name www.vcap.me;

	location ~ {

		proxy_pass         http://web;
		proxy_redirect     off;
		proxy_set_header   Host $host;
		proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
		proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
		proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;

	}
}

server {

    server_name api.vcap.me;

	location ~ {

		proxy_pass         http://api;
		proxy_redirect     off;
		proxy_set_header   Host $host;
		proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
		proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
		proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-Host $server_name;

	}
}