Docker Compose Core Knowledge

Deep Knowledge: Use mcp__documentation__fetch_docs with technology: docker-compose for comprehensive documentation.

Full Stack Example

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  app:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/mydb
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_started
    volumes:
      - ./src:/app/src  # Dev hot reload
    networks:
      - app-network

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: user
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: pass
      POSTGRES_DB: mydb
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U user -d mydb"]
      interval: 5s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
    networks:
      - app-network

  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data
    networks:
      - app-network

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  redis_data:

networks:
  app-network:
    driver: bridge

Common Commands

# Start services
docker-compose up -d
docker-compose up --build  # Rebuild images

# Stop
docker-compose down
docker-compose down -v     # Remove volumes too

# Logs
docker-compose logs -f app
docker-compose logs --tail=100 app

# Execute
docker-compose exec app sh
docker-compose exec db psql -U user mydb

# Scale
docker-compose up -d --scale app=3

Override for Dev

# docker-compose.override.yml (auto-loaded)
services:
  app:
    build:
      target: development
    volumes:
      - .:/app
      - /app/node_modules
    command: npm run dev

Environment Files

services:
  app:
    env_file:
      - .env
      - .env.local

When NOT to Use This Skill

Skip this skill when:

• Creating single-container Dockerfiles - use docker skill
• Deploying to production Kubernetes clusters - use kubernetes skill
• Setting up CI/CD workflows - use github-actions skill
• Working with Docker Swarm (deprecated) - use kubernetes skill
• Building Docker images only (no orchestration needed) - use docker skill

Anti-Patterns

Quick Troubleshooting

Production Readiness

Security Configuration

# docker-compose.prod.yml
services:
  app:
    image: myapp:${VERSION:-latest}
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    read_only: true
    tmpfs:
      - /tmp
    cap_drop:
      - ALL
    cap_add:
      - NET_BIND_SERVICE
    user: "1000:1000"
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '2'
          memory: 2G
        reservations:
          cpus: '0.5'
          memory: 512M

  db:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/db_password
    secrets:
      - db_password
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data:Z

secrets:
  db_password:
    file: ./secrets/db_password.txt

Health Checks

services:
  app:
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 40s

  db:
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U $POSTGRES_USER -d $POSTGRES_DB"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  redis:
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3

Networking

services:
  app:
    networks:
      - frontend
      - backend
    ports:
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000"  # Only localhost

  db:
    networks:
      - backend
    # No ports exposed externally

  nginx:
    networks:
      - frontend
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"

networks:
  frontend:
    driver: bridge
  backend:
    driver: bridge
    internal: true  # No internet access

Logging

services:
  app:
    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"
        labels: "service,environment"
    labels:
      - "service=app"
      - "environment=production"

  # Or use external logging
  app:
    logging:
      driver: fluentd
      options:
        fluentd-address: localhost:24224
        tag: "docker.{{.Name}}"

Restart Policies

services:
  app:
    restart: unless-stopped
    deploy:
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure
        delay: 5s
        max_attempts: 3
        window: 120s

  db:
    restart: always

Backup Strategy

services:
  backup:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    entrypoint: /bin/sh
    command: -c "pg_dump -h db -U $$POSTGRES_USER $$POSTGRES_DB | gzip > /backups/backup_$$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).sql.gz"
    environment:
      PGPASSWORD_FILE: /run/secrets/db_password
    secrets:
      - db_password
    volumes:
      - ./backups:/backups
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    profiles:
      - backup

Testing

# docker-compose.test.yml
services:
  test:
    build:
      context: .
      target: test
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://test:test@db-test:5432/testdb
    depends_on:
      db-test:
        condition: service_healthy
    command: npm test

  db-test:
    image: postgres:16-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: test
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
      POSTGRES_DB: testdb
    tmpfs:
      - /var/lib/postgresql/data  # In-memory for speed

# Run tests
docker-compose -f docker-compose.test.yml up --abort-on-container-exit --exit-code-from test

Monitoring Metrics

Checklist

• Security opts (no-new-privileges, read_only)
• Resource limits (CPU, memory)
• Health checks on all services
• Internal networks for databases
• Secrets management (not env vars)
• Logging with rotation
• Restart policies configured
• Backup strategy defined
• Test compose file
• Production override file

Reference Documentation

• Networking
• Production Setup