Table of Contents

• Docker Compose
• Where to get Docker Compose
  • Windows and macOS
  • Linux
• Quick Start
• Contributing
• Legacy

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

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:

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.