The project folder should be as such:

Project Folder
  ├─README.md
  ├─Dockerfile
  ├─nodejs-project.yml
  ├─app.js
  ├─package.json
  └─<other nodejs codes files, etc.>

The container's /usr/src/app has been mapped to the root of the Project Folder. This allow codes to be edited on the host computer while having changes reflected in the Node.js application. Server-side codes will still require the container to be restarted.

A docker volume mapping has been declared for container's /usr/src/node_modules directory. Do not manually map this directory to your host computer as this would break the installed Node.js modules.

The trickery is to map /usr/src/app to the host computer while leaving the sub-directory (/usr/src/app/node_modules) unmapped.

docker-compose -f .\nodejs-project.yml build

docker-compose -f .\nodejs-project.yml up

docker-compose -f .\nodejs-project.yml stop