Docker Compose overview

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.

Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container applications. It is the key to unlocking a streamlined and efficient development and deployment experience.

Compose simplifies the control of your entire application stack, making it easy to manage services, networks, and volumes in a single, comprehensible YAML configuration file. Then, with a single command, you create and start all the services from your configuration file.

Compose works in all environments; production, staging, development, testing, as well as CI workflows. It also has commands for managing the whole lifecycle of your application:

  • Start, stop, and rebuild services
  • View the status of running services
  • Stream the log output of running services
  • Run a one-off command on a service