Docker Compose Creator

Design and manage multi-container applications with Docker Compose for both development and production deployments.

When to Use

• Setting up local development environments
• Defining multi-service application stacks
• Managing service dependencies
• Configuring networking between services
• Environment variable management
• Production deployments (single host)
• Testing multi-service interactions

Docker Compose Versions

Use version 3.14 or later for new projects.

Basic Structure

version: '3.14'

services:
  # Service definitions go here

volumes:
  # Named volumes

networks:
  # Custom networks

Full-Featured Example: Web Application Stack

version: '3.14'

services:
  # Frontend (Nginx)
  nginx:
    image: nginx:1.25-alpine
    container_name: webapp-nginx
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - ./nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro
      - ./ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro
    depends_on:
      - api
    networks:
      - frontend
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "wget", "--quiet", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://localhost/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 10s

  # API Server (Node.js)
  api:
    build:
      context: ./api
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
      target: production
    container_name: webapp-api
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - DATABASE_HOST=postgres
      - REDIS_HOST=redis
      - LOG_LEVEL=info
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_started
    networks:
      - frontend
      - backend
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 10s
    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"

  # PostgreSQL Database
  postgres:
    image: postgres:15-alpine
    container_name: webapp-db
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=myapp
      - POSTGRES_USER=appuser
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD:?Database password required}
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
      - ./init-scripts:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d:ro
    networks:
      - backend
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U appuser -d myapp"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 10s
    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"

  # Redis Cache
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: webapp-cache
    command: redis-server --requirepass ${REDIS_PASSWORD:?Redis password required}
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data
    networks:
      - backend
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  # Background Worker (Optional)
  worker:
    build:
      context: ./worker
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    container_name: webapp-worker
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - DATABASE_HOST=postgres
      - REDIS_HOST=redis
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis
    networks:
      - backend
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  postgres_data:
  redis_data:

networks:
  frontend:
    driver: bridge
  backend:
    driver: bridge

Service Configuration

Image vs Build

# Using pre-built image
services:
  app:
    image: myregistry/myapp:1.0.0

# Building from Dockerfile
services:
  app:
    build: ./app

# Advanced build options
services:
  app:
    build:
      context: ./app
      dockerfile: Dockerfile.prod
      args:
        - BUILD_ENV=production
      target: production

Environment Variables

# Method 1: Inline
services:
  api:
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - LOG_LEVEL=info

# Method 2: From file
services:
  api:
    env_file:
      - .env
      - .env.${ENVIRONMENT}

# Method 3: Mixed (with required variable check)
services:
  api:
    environment:
      - DATABASE_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD:?Database password required}
      - DATABASE_HOST=postgres

Resource Limits

services:
  api:
    # Memory: 512MB max, 256MB soft limit
    mem_limit: 512m
    memswap_limit: 1g

    # CPU: 1 core
    cpus: '1.0'

    # File descriptor limit
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 65536
        hard: 65536

Restart Policy

services:
  api:
    restart: unless-stopped  # Restart unless manually stopped
    # Options: no, always, unless-stopped, on-failure

  worker:
    restart: on-failure
    restart_policy:
      condition: on-failure
      delay: 5s
      max_attempts: 3
      window: 60s

Networking

Service Discovery

services:
  api:
    networks:
      - backend
    environment:
      # Access postgres by service name on backend network
      - DATABASE_HOST=postgres

  postgres:
    networks:
      - backend

Multi-Network Setup

services:
  api:
    networks:
      - frontend  # Can talk to nginx
      - backend   # Can talk to postgres

  nginx:
    networks:
      - frontend  # Can talk to api

  postgres:
    networks:
      - backend   # Can talk to api, worker

networks:
  frontend:
  backend:

Port Mapping

services:
  api:
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"           # Map container 3000 to host 3000
      - "3001:3000"           # Map container 3000 to host 3001
      - "127.0.0.1:3000:3000" # Bind to localhost only

Volumes

Named Volumes

services:
  postgres:
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Bind Mounts

services:
  api:
    volumes:
      # Host path : Container path
      - ./src:/app/src
      # Read-only
      - ./config:/app/config:ro
      # With options
      - ./logs:/app/logs:delegated

Tmpfs (Memory-backed)

services:
  api:
    tmpfs:
      - /tmp
      - /run

Depends On

Basic Dependency

services:
  api:
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis

  postgres:
    image: postgres:15

  redis:
    image: redis:7

Conditional Dependency (Health Checks)

services:
  api:
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
      redis:
        condition: service_started

  postgres:
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U user"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

Health Checks

services:
  api:
    healthcheck:
      # Check command
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]

      # Check interval
      interval: 30s

      # Timeout per check
      timeout: 5s

      # Retries before failure
      retries: 3

      # Wait before first check
      start_period: 10s

Logging

services:
  api:
    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-size: "10m"
        max-file: "3"
        labels: "service=api"

  # Syslog
  worker:
    logging:
      driver: "syslog"
      options:
        syslog-address: "udp://127.0.0.1:514"
        tag: "{{.Name}}"

Development vs Production

Development (docker-compose.yml)

version: '3.14'

services:
  api:
    build: ./api
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./api/src:/app/src  # Hot reload
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=development
    command: npm run dev

Production (docker-compose.prod.yml)

version: '3.14'

services:
  api:
    image: myregistry/myapp:1.0.0
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 3

Running with Override

# Development
docker compose up

# Production
docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.prod.yml up -d

Common Commands

# Start services
docker compose up

# Start in background
docker compose up -d

# Stop services
docker compose down

# Stop without removing volumes
docker compose stop

# Remove containers, networks, volumes
docker compose down -v

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# Specific service logs
docker compose logs -f api

# Execute command in service
docker compose exec api npm test

# Run one-off command
docker compose run api npm test

# View service status
docker compose ps

# Rebuild images
docker compose up --build

# Remove and rebuild
docker compose down --rmi all && docker compose up --build

Advanced Patterns

Service Override

# docker-compose.override.yml (git-ignored)
services:
  api:
    volumes:
      - ./src:/app/src  # Local development
    environment:
      - DEBUG=true

Multiple Configurations

# Production with monitoring
docker compose \
  -f docker-compose.yml \
  -f docker-compose.prod.yml \
  -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml \
  up -d

Environment-Specific Files

# Load .env.${ENVIRONMENT}
docker compose --env-file .env.production up -d

Production Deployment Checklist

• All services have healthchecks
• Services use restart: unless-stopped
• Sensitive data in .env (git-ignored)
• Volumes for persistent data
• Resource limits set
• Logging configured
• Networks isolated
• Use specific image tags (never latest)
• Test with docker compose up -d && docker compose ps

Troubleshooting

# Check service status
docker compose ps

# View detailed service info
docker compose exec postgres psql -U user -c "\l"

# Network diagnosis
docker compose exec api ping postgres

# Resource usage
docker stats

# Rebuild and restart
docker compose down --rmi local
docker compose up --build

References

• Docker Compose documentation: https://docs.docker.com/compose/
• Compose file format: https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/
• Best practices: https://docs.docker.com/compose/production/