Include

Note

include is available in Docker Compose version 2.20 and later, and Docker Desktop version 4.22 and later.

With the include top-level element, you can include a separate Compose file directly in your local Compose file. This solves the relative path problem that extends and merge present.

include makes it easier to modularize complex applications into sub-Compose files. This allows application configurations to be made simpler and more explicit. This also helps to reflect in the config file organization the engineering team responsible for the code.

Each path listed in the include section loads as an individual Compose application model, with its own project directory, in order to resolve relative paths.

Once the included Compose application loads, all resources are copied into the current Compose application model.

Note

include applies recursively so an included Compose file which declares its own include section, results in those other files being included as well.

Example

include:
  - my-compose-include.yaml  #with serviceB declared
services:
  serviceA:
    build: .
    depends_on:
      - serviceB #use serviceB directly as if it was declared in this Compose file

my-compose-include.yaml manages serviceB which details some replicas, web UI to inspect data, isolated networks, volumes for data persistence, etc. The application relying on serviceB doesn’t need to know about the infrastructure details, and consumes the Compose file as a building block it can rely on.

This means the team managing serviceB can refactor its own database component to introduce additional services without impacting any dependent teams. It also means that the dependent teams don't need to include additional flags on each Compose command they run.

Reference information

include top-level element