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Container Platform

Docker Compose

Define and run multi-container Docker applications with a single YAML file

🐧 Linux🍎 Mac🪟 Windows📋 Quick reference →
Reviewed: Tested on: Kubernetes 1.29 · Terraform 1.8 · Ubuntu 22.04

What is this?

Docker Compose runs multiple containers (app + database + cache) with one simple command.

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Config files for Docker Compose

Where to create or edit the main configuration — paths below match the setup steps.

  • docker-compose.yml

    Location: Project root (or -f path)

    Services, networks, volumes, and env for multi-container apps

  • .env

    Location: Same directory as compose file

    Variable substitution for compose (optional)

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Step 01

Install Docker Compose

(01)Install (included with Docker Desktop)

Docker Compose V2 is bundled as the docker compose plugin.

Linux
1# Ubuntu / Debian (plugin)
2sudo apt-get update
3sudo apt-get install -y docker-compose-plugin
4 
5# Standalone (legacy)
6sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
7sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
✅

Step 02

Verify

(01)Version

Linux
1docker compose version
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Step 03

Manage Compose Stacks

(01)Lifecycle commands

Linux
1docker compose up -d          # start in background
2docker compose ps               # list services
3docker compose logs -f api      # follow logs
4docker compose restart api
5docker compose down             # stop & remove
6docker compose down -v          # also remove volumes
7docker compose build --no-cache # rebuild images

📋Config templates

10 YAML templates for Docker Compose. Copy and deploy after setup.

10 ready-to-copy templates. Expand one, copy the YAML, then run the deploy commands.

docker-compose.yaml

PostgreSQL database + Flask app with env file and volume persistence

yaml
1version: "3.9"
2 
3services:
4  db:
5    image: postgres:15-alpine
6    environment:
7      POSTGRES_DB: dukaan_db
8      POSTGRES_USER: dukaan
9      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: dukaan123
10    ports:
11      - "5432:5432"
12    volumes:
13      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
14 
15  app:
16    build: .
17    ports:
18      - "5000:5000"
19    env_file:
20      - .env
21    depends_on:
22      - db
23 
24volumes:
25  pgdata:

Dockerfile

Flask application container image

dockerfile
1FROM python:3.12-slim
2WORKDIR /app
3COPY requirements.txt .
4RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
5COPY . .
6EXPOSE 5000
7CMD ["python", "app.py"]
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Step 01

Run with Docker Compose

(01)Build and start services

Linux
1cd your-project/
2docker compose up -d --build
3docker compose ps
4docker compose logs -f app

(02)Stop and clean up

Linux
1docker compose down
2docker compose down -v  # remove volumes