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Install Compose standalone

Important

Docker's documentation refers to and describes Compose V2 functionality.

Effective July 2023, Compose V1 stopped receiving updates and is no longer in new Docker Desktop releases. Compose V2 has replaced it and is now integrated into all current Docker Desktop versions. For more information, see Migrate to Compose V2.

On this page you can find instructions on how to install Compose standalone on Linux or Windows Server, from the command line.

On Linux

Compose standalone

Note that Compose standalone uses the -compose syntax instead of the current standard syntax compose.
For example type docker-compose up when using Compose standalone, instead of docker compose up.

  1. To download and install Compose standalone, run:

    $ curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.23.3/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

  2. Apply executable permissions to the standalone binary in the target path for the installation.

  3. Test and execute compose commands using docker-compose.

    Tip

    If the command docker-compose fails after installation, check your path. You can also create a symbolic link to /usr/bin or any other directory in your path. For example:

    $ sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/docker-compose /usr/bin/docker-compose

On Windows Server

Follow these instructions if you are running the Docker daemon and client directly on Microsoft Windows Server and want to install Docker Compose.

  1. Run PowerShell as an administrator. When asked if you want to allow this app to make changes to your device, select Yes in order to proceed with the installation.

  2. GitHub now requires TLS1.2. In PowerShell, run the following:

    [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

  3. Run the following command to download the latest release of Compose (v2.23.3):

     Start-BitsTransfer -Source "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.23.3/docker-compose-windows-x86_64.exe" -Destination $Env:ProgramFiles\Docker\docker-compose.exe

    Note

    On Windows Server 2019 you can add the Compose executable to $Env:ProgramFiles\Docker. Because this directory is registered in the system PATH, you can run the docker-compose --version command on the subsequent step with no additional configuration.

    To install a different version of Compose, substitute v2.23.3 with the version of Compose you want to use.

  4. Test the installation.

    $ docker-compose.exe version
Docker Compose version v2.23.3