docker /compose
Define and run multi-container applications with Docker
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README
Table of Contents
- Docker Compose
- Where to get Docker Compose
+ Windows and macOS
+ Linux
- Quick Start
- Contributing
- Legacy
Docker Compose
!Docker Compose
Docker Compose is a tool for running multi-container applications on Docker
defined using the Compose file format.
A Compose file is used to define how one or more containers that make up
your application are configured.
Once you have a Compose file, you can create and start your application with a
single command: docker compose up.
Note: About Docker Swarm
Docker Swarm used to rely on the legacy compose file format but did not adopt the compose specification
so is missing some of the recent enhancements in the compose syntax. After
acquisition by Mirantis swarm isn't maintained by Docker Inc, and
as such some Docker Compose features aren't accessible to swarm users.
Where to get Docker Compose
Windows and macOS
Docker Compose is included in
Docker Desktop
for Windows and macOS.
Linux
You can download Docker Compose binaries from the
release page on this repository.
Rename the relevant binary for your OS to docker-compose and copy it to $HOME/.docker/cli-plugins
Or copy it into one of these folders to install it system-wide:
/usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins OR /usr/local/libexec/docker/cli-plugins
/usr/lib/docker/cli-plugins OR /usr/libexec/docker/cli-plugins
(might require making the downloaded file executable with chmod +x)
Quick Start
-----------
Using Docker Compose is a three-step process:
1. Define your app's environment with a Dockerfile so it can be
reproduced anywhere.
2. Define the services that make up your app in compose.yaml so
they can be run together in an isolated environment.
3. Lastly, run docker compose up and Compose will start and run your entire
app.
A Compose file looks like this:
yaml
services:
web:
build: .
ports:
- "5000:5000"
volumes:
- .:/code
redis:
image: redis
Contributing
------------
Want to help develop Docker Compose? Check out our
contributing documentation.
If you find an issue, please report it on the
issue tracker.
Legacy
-------------
The Python version of Compose is available under the v1 branch.Top issues
#11867Support remote DOCKER_HOST by copying configs and secrets files instead of bind mounting them51 comments · 2024-05-30#13348[BUG] Networking seems broken in 2.40.337 comments · 2025-11-04#10596[BUG] compose up --wait exits 1 on init containers successfully completing20 comments · 2023-05-22#9122Stream logs during `--wait`18 comments · 2022-01-25#12581Support bake file as build target16 comments · 2025-02-25#13807Add optional auto-confirm label on volumes13 comments · 2026-05-22#11816[BUG] !reset tag does not work on environment keys when multiple files contibute11 comments · 2024-05-15#12835Watch different command/entrypoint10 comments · 2025-05-15
Latest release
v5.7.0 v5.7.0 2026-11-02What's Changed ℹ️ Heads-up for users of Compose as a library: Up now runs its Create and Start phases as a single plan over a single daemon snapshot, for up -d (14290) and interactive up (14305), as scale, watch rebuilds and start already do (14291, 14296). The CLI behaves as before. If you call api.Compose.Up from your own program: Up now validates its options first, with the same rules as the CLI flags: UpOptions.Validate() returns an api.IncompatibleOptionsError (errors.Is(err, api.ErrIncompatibleOptions)) for Start.Wait combined with Start.Attach, and for a detached Up (no Start.A