Compose file version 2 reference
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Compose file version 2 reference
Important
From the end of June 2023 Compose V1 won’t be supported anymore and will be removed from all Docker Desktop versions.
Make sure you switch to Compose V2 with the
docker compose
CLI plugin or by activating the Use Docker Compose V2 setting in Docker Desktop. For more information, see the Evolution of Compose
Reference and guidelines
These topics describe version 2 of the Compose file format.
Compose and Docker compatibility matrix
There are several versions of the Compose file format – 1, 2, 2.x, and 3.x. The
table below is a quick look. For full details on what each version includes and
how to upgrade, see About versions and upgrading.
This table shows which Compose file versions support specific Docker releases.
Compose file format
Docker Engine release
Compose specification
19.03.0+
3.8
19.03.0+
3.7
18.06.0+
3.6
18.02.0+
3.5
17.12.0+
3.4
17.09.0+
3.3
17.06.0+
3.2
17.04.0+
3.1
1.13.1+
3.0
1.13.0+
2.4
17.12.0+
2.3
17.06.0+
2.2
1.13.0+
2.1
1.12.0+
2.0
1.10.0+
In addition to Compose file format versions shown in the table, the Compose
itself is on a release schedule, as shown in Compose
releases, but file format versions
do not necessarily increment with each release. For example, Compose file format
3.0 was first introduced in Compose release
1.10.0, and versioned
gradually in subsequent releases.
The latest Compose file format is defined by the Compose Specification and is implemented by Docker Compose 1.27.0+.
Service configuration reference
The Compose file is a YAML file defining
services,
networks and
volumes.
The default path for a Compose file is ./docker-compose.yml
.
Tip: You can use either a
.yml
or.yaml
extension for this file.
They both work.
A service definition contains configuration that is applied to each
container started for that service, much like passing command-line parameters to
docker run
. Likewise, network and volume definitions are analogous to
docker network create
and docker volume create
.
As with docker run
, options specified in the Dockerfile, such as CMD
,
EXPOSE
, VOLUME
, ENV
, are respected by default – you don’t need to
specify them again in docker-compose.yml
.
You can use environment variables in configuration values with a Bash-like
${VARIABLE}
syntax – see variable substitution for
full details.
This section contains a list of all configuration options supported by a service
definition in version 2.
blkio_config
A set of configuration options to set block IO limits for this service.
version: "2.4"
services:
foo:
image: busybox
blkio_config:
weight: 300
weight_device:
- path: /dev/sda
weight: 400
device_read_bps:
- path: /dev/sdb
rate: '12mb'
device_read_iops:
- path: /dev/sdb
rate: 120
device_write_bps:
- path: /dev/sdb
rate: '1024k'
device_write_iops:
- path: /dev/sdb
rate: 30
device_read_bps, device_write_bps
Set a limit in bytes per second for read / write operations on a given device.
Each item in the list must have two keys:
path
, defining the symbolic path to the affected devicerate
, either as an integer value representing the number of bytes or as
a string expressing a byte value.
device_read_iops, device_write_iops
Set a limit in operations per second for read / write operations on a given
device. Each item in the list must have two keys:
path
, defining the symbolic path to the affected devicerate
, as an integer value representing the permitted number of operations
per second.
weight
Modify the proportion of bandwidth allocated to this service relative to other
services. Takes an integer value between 10 and 1000, with 500 being the
default.
weight_device
Fine-tune bandwidth allocation by device. Each item in the list must have
two keys:
path
, defining the symbolic path to the affected deviceweight
, an integer value between 10 and 1000
build
Configuration options that are applied at build time.
build
can be specified either as a string containing a path to the build
context:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
webapp
:
build
:
./dir
Or, as an object with the path specified under context and
optionally Dockerfile and args:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
webapp
:
build
:
context
:
./dir
dockerfile
:
Dockerfile-alternate
args
:
buildno
:
1
If you specify image
as well as build
, then Compose names the built image
with the webapp
and optional tag
specified in image
:
build
:
./dir
image
:
webapp:tag
This results in an image named webapp
and tagged tag
, built from ./dir
.
context
Added in version 2.0 file format.
Either a path to a directory containing a Dockerfile, or a url to a git repository.
When the value supplied is a relative path, it is interpreted as relative to the
location of the Compose file. This directory is also the build context that is
sent to the Docker daemon.
Compose builds and tags it with a generated name, and uses that image
thereafter.
build
:
context
:
./dir
dockerfile
Alternate Dockerfile.
Compose uses an alternate file to build with. A build path must also be
specified.
build
:
context
:
.
dockerfile
:
Dockerfile-alternate
args
Added in version 2.0 file format.
Add build arguments, which are environment variables accessible only during the
build process.
First, specify the arguments in your Dockerfile:
# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
ARG
buildno
ARG
gitcommithash
RUN
echo
"Build number:
$buildno
"
RUN
echo
"Based on commit:
$gitcommithash
"
Then specify the arguments under the build
key. You can pass a mapping
or a list:
build
:
context
:
.
args
:
buildno
:
1
gitcommithash
:
cdc3b19
build
:
context
:
.
args
:
-
buildno=1
-
gitcommithash=cdc3b19
Scope of build-args
In your Dockerfile, if you specify
ARG
before theFROM
instruction,
ARG
is not available in the build instructions underFROM
.
If you need an argument to be available in both places, also specify it under
theFROM
instruction. Refer to the understand how ARGS and FROM interact
section in the documentation for usage details.
You can omit the value when specifying a build argument, in which case its value
at build time is the value in the environment where Compose is running.
args
:
-
buildno
-
gitcommithash
Tip when using boolean values
YAML boolean values (
"true"
,"false"
,"yes"
,"no"
,"on"
,
"off"
) must be enclosed in quotes, so that the parser interprets them as
strings.
cache_from
Added in version 2.2 file format
A list of images that the engine uses for cache resolution.
build
:
context
:
.
cache_from
:
-
alpine:latest
-
corp/web_app:3.14
extra_hosts
Add hostname mappings at build-time. Use the same values as the docker client --add-host
parameter.
extra_hosts
:
-
"
somehost:162.242.195.82"
-
"
otherhost:50.31.209.229"
An entry with the ip address and hostname is created in /etc/hosts
inside containers for this build, e.g:
162.242.195.82 somehost
50.31.209.229 otherhost
isolation
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Specify a build’s container isolation technology. On Linux, the only supported value
is default
. On Windows, acceptable values are default
, process
and
hyperv
. Refer to the
Docker Engine docs
for details.
If unspecified, Compose will use the isolation
value found in the service’s definition
to determine the value to use for builds.
labels
Added in version 2.1 file format
Add metadata to the resulting image using Docker labels.
You can use either an array or a dictionary.
It’s recommended that you use reverse-DNS notation to prevent your labels from
conflicting with those used by other software.
build
:
context
:
.
labels
:
com.example.description
:
"
Accounting
webapp"
com.example.department
:
"
Finance"
com.example.label-with-empty-value
:
"
"
build
:
context
:
.
labels
:
-
"
com.example.description=Accounting
webapp"
-
"
com.example.department=Finance"
-
"
com.example.label-with-empty-value"
network
Added in version 2.2 file format
Set the network containers connect to for the RUN
instructions during
build.
build
:
context
:
.
network
:
host
build
:
context
:
.
network
:
custom_network_1
Use none
to disable networking during build:
build
:
context
:
.
network
:
none
shm_size
Added in version 2.3 file format
Set the size of the /dev/shm
partition for this build’s containers. Specify
as an integer value representing the number of bytes or as a string expressing
a byte value.
build
:
context
:
.
shm_size
:
'
2gb'
build
:
context
:
.
shm_size
:
10000000
target
Added in version 2.3 file format
Build the specified stage as defined inside the Dockerfile
. See the
multi-stage build docs for
details.
build
:
context
:
.
target
:
prod
cap_add, cap_drop
Add or drop container capabilities.
See man 7 capabilities
for a full list.
cap_add
:
-
ALL
cap_drop
:
-
NET_ADMIN
-
SYS_ADMIN
cgroup_parent
Specify an optional parent cgroup for the container.
cgroup_parent
:
m-executor-abcd
command
Override the default command.
command
:
bundle exec thin -p
3000
The command can also be a list, in a manner similar to
dockerfile:
command
:
[
"
bundle"
,
"
exec"
,
"
thin"
,
"
-p"
,
"
3000"
]
container_name
Specify a custom container name, rather than a generated default name.
container_name
:
my-web-container
Because Docker container names must be unique, you cannot scale a service beyond
1 container if you have specified a custom name. Attempting to do so results in
an error.
cpu_rt_runtime, cpu_rt_period
Added in version 2.2 file format
Configure CPU allocation parameters using the Docker daemon realtime scheduler.
cpu_rt_runtime
:
'
400ms'
cpu_rt_period
:
'
1400us'
Integer values will use microseconds as units:
cpu_rt_runtime
:
95000
cpu_rt_period
:
11000
device_cgroup_rules
Added in version 2.3 file format.
Add rules to the cgroup allowed devices list.
device_cgroup_rules
:
-
'
c
1:3
mr'
-
'
a
7:*
rmw'
devices
List of device mappings. Uses the same format as the --device
docker
client create option.
devices
:
-
"
/dev/ttyUSB0:/dev/ttyUSB0"
depends_on
Added in version 2.0 file format.
Express dependency between services. Service dependencies cause the following
behaviors:
docker-compose up
starts services in dependency order. In the following
example,db
andredis
are started beforeweb
.docker-compose up SERVICE
automatically includesSERVICE
’s
dependencies. In the example below,docker-compose up web
also
creates and startsdb
andredis
.docker-compose stop
stops services in dependency order. In the following
example,web
is stopped beforedb
andredis
.
Simple example:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
web
:
build
:
.
depends_on
:
-
db
-
redis
redis
:
image
:
redis
db
:
image
:
postgres
Note
depends_on
does not wait fordb
andredis
to be “ready” before
startingweb
– only until they have been started. If you need to wait
for a service to be ready, see Controlling startup order
for more on this problem and strategies for solving it.
Added in version 2.1 file format.
A healthcheck indicates that you want a dependency to wait
for another container to be “healthy” (as indicated by a successful state from
the healthcheck) before starting.
Example:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
web
:
build
:
.
depends_on
:
db
:
condition
:
service_healthy
redis
:
condition
:
service_started
redis
:
image
:
redis
db
:
image
:
postgres
healthcheck
:
test
:
"
exit
0"
In the above example, Compose waits for the redis
service to be started
(legacy behavior) and the db
service to be healthy before starting web
.
See the healthcheck section for complementary
information.
dns
Custom DNS servers. Can be a single value or a list.
dns
:
8.8.8.8
dns
:
-
8.8.8.8
-
9.9.9.9
dns_opt
List of custom DNS options to be added to the container’s resolv.conf
file.
dns_opt
:
-
use-vc
-
no-tld-query
dns_search
Custom DNS search domains. Can be a single value or a list.
dns_search
:
example.com
dns_search
:
-
dc1.example.com
-
dc2.example.com
entrypoint
Override the default entrypoint.
entrypoint
:
/code/entrypoint.sh
The entrypoint can also be a list, in a manner similar to
dockerfile:
entrypoint
:
[
"
php"
,
"
-d"
,
"
memory_limit=-1"
,
"
vendor/bin/phpunit"
]
Note
Setting
entrypoint
both overrides any default entrypoint set on the service’s
image with theENTRYPOINT
Dockerfile instruction, and clears out any default
command on the image – meaning that if there’s aCMD
instruction in the
Dockerfile, it is ignored.
env_file
Add environment variables from a file. Can be a single value or a list.
If you have specified a Compose file with docker-compose -f FILE
, paths in
env_file
are relative to the directory that file is in.
Environment variables declared in the environment section
override these values – this holds true even if those values are
empty or undefined.
env_file
:
.env
env_file
:
-
./common.env
-
./apps/web.env
-
/opt/runtime_opts.env
Compose expects each line in an env file to be in VAR=VAL
format. Lines
beginning with #
are treated as comments and are ignored. Blank lines are
also ignored.
#
Set Rails/Rack environment
RACK_ENV=development
Note
If your service specifies a build option, variables defined in
environment files are not automatically visible during the build. Use
the args sub-option ofbuild
to define build-time environment
variables.
The value of VAL
is used as is and not modified at all. For example if the
value is surrounded by quotes (as is often the case of shell variables), the
quotes are included in the value passed to Compose.
Keep in mind that the order of files in the list is significant in determining
the value assigned to a variable that shows up more than once. The files in the
list are processed from the top down. For the same variable specified in file
a.env
and assigned a different value in file b.env
, if b.env
is
listed below (after), then the value from b.env
stands. For example, given the
following declaration in docker-compose.yml
:
services
:
some-service
:
env_file
:
-
a.env
-
b.env
And the following files:
#
a.env
VAR=1
and
#
b.env
VAR=hello
$VAR
is hello
.
environment
Add environment variables. You can use either an array or a dictionary. Any
boolean values (true, false, yes, no) need to be enclosed in quotes to ensure
they are not converted to True or False by the YML parser.
Environment variables with only a key are resolved to their values on the
machine Compose is running on, which can be helpful for secret or host-specific values.
environment
:
RACK_ENV
:
development
SHOW
:
'
true'
SESSION_SECRET
:
environment
:
-
RACK_ENV=development
-
SHOW=true
-
SESSION_SECRET
Note
If your service specifies a build option, variables defined in
environment
are not automatically visible during the build. Use the
args sub-option ofbuild
to define build-time environment
variables.
expose
Expose ports without publishing them to the host machine – they’ll only be
accessible to linked services. Only the internal port can be specified.
expose
:
-
"
3000"
-
"
8000"
extends
Extend another service, in the current file or another, optionally overriding
configuration.
You can use extends
on any service together with other configuration keys.
The extends
value must be a dictionary defined with a required service
and an optional file
key.
extends
:
file
:
common.yml
service
:
webapp
The service
is the name of the service being extended, for example
web
or database
. The file
is the location of a Compose configuration
file defining that service.
If you omit the file
Compose looks for the service configuration in the
current file. The file
value can be an absolute or relative path. If you
specify a relative path, Compose treats it as relative to the location of the
current file.
You can extend a service that itself extends another. You can extend
indefinitely. Compose does not support circular references and docker-compose
returns an error if it encounters one.
For more on extends
, see the
the extends documentation.
Link to containers started outside this docker-compose.yml
or even outside of
Compose, especially for containers that provide shared or common services.
external_links
follow semantics similar to the legacy option links
when
specifying both the container name and the link alias (CONTAINER:ALIAS
).
external_links
:
-
redis_1
-
project_db_1:mysql
-
project_db_1:postgresql
Note
If you’re using the version 2 or above file format,
the externally-created containers must be connected to at least one of the same
networks as the service that is linking to them. Links
are a legacy option. We recommend using networks instead.
extra_hosts
Add hostname mappings. Use the same values as the docker client --add-host
parameter.
extra_hosts
:
-
"
somehost:162.242.195.82"
-
"
otherhost:50.31.209.229"
An entry with the ip address and hostname is created in /etc/hosts
inside containers for this service, e.g:
162.242.195.82 somehost
50.31.209.229 otherhost
group_add
Specify additional groups (by name or number) which the user inside the
container should be a member of. Groups must exist in both the container and the
host system to be added. An example of where this is useful is when multiple
containers (running as different users) need to all read or write the same
file on the host system. That file can be owned by a group shared by all the
containers, and specified in group_add
. See the
Docker documentation for more
details.
A full example:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
myservice
:
image
:
alpine
group_add
:
-
mail
Running id
inside the created container shows that the user belongs to
the mail
group, which would not have been the case if group_add
were not
used.
healthcheck
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Configure a check that’s run to determine whether or not containers for this
service are “healthy”. See the docs for the
HEALTHCHECK Dockerfile instruction
for details on how healthchecks work.
healthcheck
:
test
:
[
"
CMD"
,
"
curl"
,
"
-f"
,
"
http://localhost"
]
interval
:
1m30s
timeout
:
10s
retries
:
3
start_period
:
40s
interval
, timeout
and start_period
are specified as
durations.
Added in version 2.3 file format.
The
start_period
option was added in file format 2.3.
test
must be either a string or a list. If it’s a list, the first item must be
either NONE
, CMD
or CMD-SHELL
. If it’s a string, it’s equivalent to
specifying CMD-SHELL
followed by that string.
# Hit the local web app
test
:
[
"
CMD"
,
"
curl"
,
"
-f"
,
"
http://localhost"
]
As above, but wrapped in /bin/sh
. Both forms below are equivalent.
test
:
[
"
CMD-SHELL"
,
"
curl
-f
http://localhost
||
exit
1"
]
test
:
curl -f https://localhost || exit
1
To disable any default healthcheck set by the image, you can use disable: true
.
This is equivalent to specifying test: ["NONE"]
.
healthcheck
:
disable
:
true
image
Specify the image to start the container from. Can either be a repository/tag or
a partial image ID.
image
:
redis
image
:
ubuntu:18.04
image
:
tutum/influxdb
image
:
example-registry.com:4000/postgresql
image
:
a4bc65fd
If the image does not exist, Compose attempts to pull it, unless you have also
specified build, in which case it builds it using the specified
options and tags it with the specified tag.
init
Added in version 2.2 file format.
Run an init inside the container that forwards signals and reaps processes.
Set this option to true
to enable this feature for the service.
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
web
:
image
:
alpine:latest
init
:
true
The default init binary that is used is Tini,
and is installed in/usr/libexec/docker-init
on the daemon host. You can
configure the daemon to use a custom init binary through the
init-path
configuration option.
isolation
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Specify a container’s isolation technology. On Linux, the only supported value
is default
. On Windows, acceptable values are default
, process
and
hyperv
. Refer to the
Docker Engine docs
for details.
labels
Add metadata to containers using Docker labels. You can use either an array or a dictionary.
It’s recommended that you use reverse-DNS notation to prevent your labels from conflicting with those used by other software.
labels
:
com.example.description
:
"
Accounting
webapp"
com.example.department
:
"
Finance"
com.example.label-with-empty-value
:
"
"
labels
:
-
"
com.example.description=Accounting
webapp"
-
"
com.example.department=Finance"
-
"
com.example.label-with-empty-value"
Link to containers in another service. Either specify both the service name and
a link alias ("SERVICE:ALIAS"
), or just the service name.
Links are a legacy option. We recommend using
networks instead.
web
:
links
:
-
"
db"
-
"
db:database"
-
"
redis"
Containers for the linked service are reachable at a hostname identical to
the alias, or the service name if no alias was specified.
Links are not required to enable services to communicate – by default,
any service can reach any other service at that service’s name. (See also, the
Links topic in Networking in Compose.)
Links also express dependency between services in the same way as
depends_on, so they determine the order of service startup.
Note
If you define both links and networks, services with
links between them must share at least one network in common to
communicate. We recommend using networks instead.
logging
Logging configuration for the service.
logging
:
driver
:
syslog
options
:
syslog-address
:
"
tcp://192.168.0.42:123"
The driver
name specifies a logging driver for the service’s
containers, as with the --log-driver
option for docker run
(documented here).
The default value is json-file.
driver
:
"
json-file"
driver
:
"
syslog"
driver
:
"
none"
Note
Only the
json-file
andjournald
drivers make the logs available directly
fromdocker-compose up
anddocker-compose logs
. Using any other driver
does not print any logs.
Specify logging options for the logging driver with the options
key, as with the --log-opt
option for docker run
.
Logging options are key-value pairs. An example of syslog
options:
driver
:
"
syslog"
options
:
syslog-address
:
"
tcp://192.168.0.42:123"
network_mode
Changed in version 2 file format.
Network mode. Use the same values as the docker client --network
parameter, plus
the special form service:[service name]
.
network_mode
:
"
bridge"
network_mode
:
"
host"
network_mode
:
"
none"
network_mode
:
"
service:[service
name]"
network_mode
:
"
container:[container
name/id]"
networks
Changed in version 2 file format.
Networks to join, referencing entries under the
top-level networks
key.
services
:
some-service
:
networks
:
-
some-network
-
other-network
aliases
Aliases (alternative hostnames) for this service on the network. Other containers on the same network can use either the service name or this alias to connect to one of the service’s containers.
Since aliases
is network-scoped, the same service can have different aliases on different networks.
Note
A network-wide alias can be shared by multiple containers, and even by multiple
services. If it is, then exactly which container the name resolves to is not
guaranteed.
The general format is shown here.
services
:
some-service
:
networks
:
some-network
:
aliases
:
-
alias1
-
alias3
other-network
:
aliases
:
-
alias2
In the example below, three services are provided (web
, worker
, and db
),
along with two networks (new
and legacy
). The db
service is reachable at
the hostname db
or database
on the new
network, and at db
or mysql
on
the legacy
network.
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
web
:
image
:
"
nginx:alpine"
networks
:
-
new
worker
:
image
:
"
my-worker-image:latest"
networks
:
-
legacy
db
:
image
:
mysql
networks
:
new
:
aliases
:
-
database
legacy
:
aliases
:
-
mysql
networks
:
new
:
legacy
:
ipv4_address, ipv6_address
Specify a static IP address for containers for this service when joining the network.
The corresponding network configuration in the
top-level networks section must have an
ipam
block with subnet and gateway configurations covering each static address.
If IPv6 addressing is desired, the
enable_ipv6
option must be set.
An example:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
app
:
image
:
busybox
command
:
ifconfig
networks
:
app_net
:
ipv4_address
:
172.16.238.10
ipv6_address
:
2001:3984:3989::10
networks
:
app_net
:
driver
:
bridge
enable_ipv6
:
true
ipam
:
driver
:
default
config
:
-
subnet
:
172.16.238.0/24
gateway
:
172.16.238.1
-
subnet
:
2001:3984:3989::/64
gateway
:
2001:3984:3989::1
link_local_ips
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Specify a list of link-local IPs. Link-local IPs are special IPs which belong
to a well known subnet and are purely managed by the operator, usually
dependent on the architecture where they are deployed. Therefore they are not
managed by docker (IPAM driver).
Example usage:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
app
:
image
:
busybox
command
:
top
networks
:
app_net
:
link_local_ips
:
-
57.123.22.11
-
57.123.22.13
networks
:
app_net
:
driver
:
bridge
priority
Specify a priority to indicate in which order Compose should connect the
service’s containers to its networks. If unspecified, the default value is 0
.
In the following example, the app
service connects to app_net_1
first
as it has the highest priority. It then connects to app_net_3
, then
app_net_2
, which uses the default priority value of 0
.
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
app
:
image
:
busybox
command
:
top
networks
:
app_net_1
:
priority
:
1000
app_net_2
:
app_net_3
:
priority
:
100
networks
:
app_net_1
:
app_net_2
:
app_net_3
:
Note
If multiple networks have the same priority, the connection order is undefined.
pid
pid
:
"
host"
pid
:
"
container:custom_container_1"
pid
:
"
service:foobar"
If set to one of the following forms: container:<container_name>
,
service:<service_name>
, the service shares the PID address space of the
designated container or service.
If set to “host”, the service’s PID mode is the host PID mode. This turns
on sharing between container and the host operating system the PID address
space. Containers launched with this flag can access and manipulate
other containers in the bare-metal machine’s namespace and vice versa.
Added in version 2.1 file format.
The
service:
andcontainer:
forms require version 2.1 or above
pids_limit
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Tunes a container’s PIDs limit. Set to -1
for unlimited PIDs.
pids_limit
:
10
platform
Added in version 2.4 file format.
Target platform containers for this service will run on, using the
os[/arch[/variant]]
syntax, e.g.
platform
:
osx
platform
:
windows/amd64
platform
:
linux/arm64/v8
This parameter determines which version of the image will be pulled and/or
on which platform the service’s build will be performed.
ports
Expose ports. Either specify both ports (HOST:CONTAINER
), or just the container
port (an ephemeral host port is chosen).
Note
When mapping ports in the
HOST:CONTAINER
format, you may experience
erroneous results when using a container port lower than 60, because YAML
parses numbers in the formatxx:yy
as a base-60 value. For this reason,
we recommend always explicitly specifying your port mappings as strings.
ports
:
-
"
3000"
-
"
3000-3005"
-
"
8000:8000"
-
"
9090-9091:8080-8081"
-
"
49100:22"
-
"
127.0.0.1:8001:8001"
-
"
127.0.0.1:5000-5010:5000-5010"
-
"
6060:6060/udp"
-
"
12400-12500:1240"
runtime
Added in version 2.3 file format.
Specify which runtime to use for the service’s containers. Default runtime
and available runtimes are listed in the output of docker info
.
web
:
image
:
busybox:latest
command
:
true
runtime
:
runc
scale
Added in version 2.2 file format.
Specify the default number of containers to deploy for this service. Whenever
you run docker-compose up
, Compose creates or removes containers to match
the specified number. This value can be overridden using the
--scale
web
:
image
:
busybox:latest
command
:
echo 'scaled'
scale
:
3
security_opt
Override the default labeling scheme for each container.
security_opt
:
-
label:user:USER
-
label:role:ROLE
stop_grace_period
Specify how long to wait when attempting to stop a container if it doesn’t
handle SIGTERM (or whatever stop signal has been specified with
stop_signal
), before sending SIGKILL. Specified
as a duration.
stop_grace_period
:
1s
stop_grace_period
:
1m30s
By default, stop
waits 10 seconds for the container to exit before sending
SIGKILL.
stop_signal
Sets an alternative signal to stop the container. By default stop
uses
SIGTERM. Setting an alternative signal using stop_signal
causes
stop
to send that signal instead.
stop_signal
:
SIGUSR1
storage_opt
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Set storage driver options for this service.
storage_opt
:
size
:
'
1G'
sysctls
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Kernel parameters to set in the container. You can use either an array or a
dictionary.
sysctls
:
net.core.somaxconn
:
1024
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies
:
0
sysctls
:
-
net.core.somaxconn=1024
-
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies=0
tmpfs
Mount a temporary file system inside the container. Can be a single value or a list.
tmpfs
:
/run
tmpfs
:
-
/run
-
/tmp
ulimits
Override the default ulimits for a container. You can either specify a single
limit as an integer or soft/hard limits as a mapping.
ulimits
:
nproc
:
65535
nofile
:
soft
:
20000
hard
:
40000
userns_mode
Added in version 2.1 file format.
userns_mode
:
"
host"
Disables the user namespace for this service, if Docker daemon is configured with user namespaces.
See dockerd for
more information.
volumes
Mount host paths or named volumes. Named volumes need to be specified with the
top-level volumes
key.
Short syntax
The short syntax uses the generic [SOURCE:]TARGET[:MODE]
format, where
SOURCE
can be either a host path or volume name. TARGET
is the container
path where the volume is mounted. Standard modes are ro
for read-only
and rw
for read-write (default).
You can mount a relative path on the host, which expands relative to
the directory of the Compose configuration file being used. Relative paths
should always begin with .
or ..
.
volumes
:
# Just specify a path and let the Engine create a volume
-
/var/lib/mysql
# Specify an absolute path mapping
-
/opt/data:/var/lib/mysql
# Path on the host, relative to the Compose file
-
./cache:/tmp/cache
# User-relative path
-
~/configs:/etc/configs/:ro
# Named volume
-
datavolume:/var/lib/mysql
Long syntax
Added in version 2.3 file format.
The long form syntax allows the configuration of additional fields that can’t be
expressed in the short form.
type
: the mount typevolume
,bind
,tmpfs
ornpipe
source
: the source of the mount, a path on the host for a bind mount, or the
name of a volume defined in the
top-levelvolumes
key. Not applicable for a tmpfs mount.target
: the path in the container where the volume is mountedread_only
: flag to set the volume as read-onlybind
: configure additional bind optionspropagation
: the propagation mode used for the bind
volume
: configure additional volume optionsnocopy
: flag to disable copying of data from a container when a volume is
created
tmpfs
: configure additional tmpfs optionssize
: the size for the tmpfs mount in bytes
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
web
:
image
:
nginx:alpine
ports
:
-
"
80:80"
volumes
:
-
type
:
volume
source
:
mydata
target
:
/data
volume
:
nocopy
:
true
-
type
:
bind
source
:
./static
target
:
/opt/app/static
networks
:
webnet
:
volumes
:
mydata
:
Note
When creating bind mounts, using the long syntax requires the
referenced folder to be created beforehand. Using the short syntax
creates the folder on the fly if it doesn’t exist.
See the bind mounts documentation
for more information.
volume_driver
Specify a default volume driver to be used for all declared volumes on this
service.
volume_driver
:
mydriver
Note
In version 2 files, this
option only applies to anonymous volumes (those specified in the image,
or specified undervolumes
without an explicit named volume or host path).
To configure the driver for a named volume, use thedriver
key under the
entry in the top-levelvolumes
option.
See Docker Volumes and
Volume Plugins for more information.
volumes_from
Mount all of the volumes from another service or container, optionally
specifying read-only access (ro
) or read-write (rw
). If no access level
is specified, then read-write is used.
volumes_from
:
-
service_name
-
service_name:ro
-
container:container_name
-
container:container_name:rw
Changed in version 2 file format.
restart
no
is the default restart policy, and it doesn’t restart a container under any circumstance. When always
is specified, the container always restarts. The on-failure
policy restarts a container if the exit code indicates an on-failure error.
restart
:
"
no"
restart
:
"
always"
restart
:
"
on-failure"
restart
:
"
unless-stopped"
cpu_count, cpu_percent, cpu_shares, cpu_period, cpu_quota, cpus, cpuset, domainname, hostname, ipc, mac_address, mem_limit, memswap_limit, mem_swappiness, mem_reservation, oom_kill_disable, oom_score_adj, privileged, read_only, shm_size, stdin_open, tty, user, working_dir
Each of these is a single value, analogous to its
docker run counterpart.
Added in version 2.2 file format.
The
cpu_count
,cpu_percent
, andcpus
options were added in version 2.2.
Added in version 2.1 file format.
The
oom_kill_disable
andcpu_period
options were added in version 2.1.
cpu_count
:
2
cpu_percent
:
50
cpus
:
0.5
cpu_shares
:
73
cpu_quota
:
50000
cpu_period
:
20ms
cpuset
:
0,1
user
:
postgresql
working_dir
:
/code
domainname
:
foo.com
hostname
:
foo
ipc
:
host
mac_address
:
02:42:ac:11:65:43
mem_limit
:
1000000000
memswap_limit
:
2000000000
mem_reservation
:
512m
privileged
:
true
oom_score_adj
:
500
oom_kill_disable
:
true
read_only
:
true
shm_size
:
64M
stdin_open
:
true
tty
:
true
Specifying durations
Some configuration options, such as the interval
and timeout
sub-options for
healthcheck
, accept a duration as a string in a
format that looks like this:
2.5s
10s
1m30s
2h32m
5h34m56s
The supported units are us
, ms
, s
, m
and h
.
Specifying byte values
Some configuration options, such as the device_read_bps
sub-option for
blkio_config
, accept a byte value as a string in a format
that looks like this:
2b
1024kb
2048k
300m
1gb
The supported units are b
, k
, m
and g
, and their alternative notation kb
,
mb
and gb
. Decimal values are not supported at this time.
Volume configuration reference
While it is possible to declare volumes on the fly as part of the
service declaration, this section allows you to create named volumes that can be
reused across multiple services (without relying on volumes_from
), and are
easily retrieved and inspected using the docker command line or API.
See the docker volume
subcommand documentation for more information.
See use volumes and volume plugins
for general information on volumes.
Here’s an example of a two-service setup where a database’s data directory is
shared with another service as a volume so that it can be periodically backed
up:
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
db
:
image
:
db
volumes
:
-
data-volume:/var/lib/db
backup
:
image
:
backup-service
volumes
:
-
data-volume:/var/lib/backup/data
volumes
:
data-volume
:
An entry under the top-level volumes
key can be empty, in which case it
uses the default driver configured by the Engine (in most cases, this is the
local
driver). Optionally, you can configure it with the following keys:
driver
Specify which volume driver should be used for this volume. Defaults to whatever
driver the Docker Engine has been configured to use, which in most cases is
local
. If the driver is not available, the Engine returns an error when
docker-compose up
tries to create the volume.
driver
:
foobar
driver_opts
Specify a list of options as key-value pairs to pass to the driver for this
volume. Those options are driver-dependent – consult the driver’s
documentation for more information. Optional.
volumes
:
example
:
driver_opts
:
type
:
"
nfs"
o
:
"
addr=10.40.0.199,nolock,soft,rw"
device
:
"
:/docker/example"
external
If set to true
, specifies that this volume has been created outside of
Compose. docker-compose up
does not attempt to create it, and raises
an error if it doesn’t exist.
For version 2.0 of the format, external
cannot be used in
conjunction with other volume configuration keys (driver
, driver_opts
,
labels
). This limitation no longer exists for
version 2.1 and above.
In the example below, instead of attempting to create a volume called
[projectname]_data
, Compose looks for an existing volume simply
called data
and mount it into the db
service’s containers.
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
db
:
image
:
postgres
volumes
:
-
data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
volumes
:
data
:
external
:
true
You can also specify the name of the volume separately from the name used to
refer to it within the Compose file:
volumes
:
data
:
external
:
name
:
actual-name-of-volume
Deprecated in version 2.1 file format.
external.name was deprecated in version 2.1 file format use
name
instead.
labels
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Add metadata to containers using
Docker labels. You can use either
an array or a dictionary.
It’s recommended that you use reverse-DNS notation to prevent your labels from
conflicting with those used by other software.
labels
:
com.example.description
:
"
Database
volume"
com.example.department
:
"
IT/Ops"
com.example.label-with-empty-value
:
"
"
labels
:
-
"
com.example.description=Database
volume"
-
"
com.example.department=IT/Ops"
-
"
com.example.label-with-empty-value"
name
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Set a custom name for this volume. The name field can be used to reference
volumes that contain special characters. The name is used as is
and will not be scoped with the stack name.
version
:
"
2.4"
volumes
:
data
:
name
:
my-app-data
It can also be used in conjunction with the external
property:
version
:
"
2.4"
volumes
:
data
:
external
:
true
name
:
my-app-data
Network configuration reference
The top-level networks
key lets you specify networks to be created. For a full
explanation of Compose’s use of Docker networking features, see the
Networking guide.
driver
Specify which driver should be used for this network.
The default driver depends on how the Docker Engine you’re using is configured,
but in most instances it is bridge
on a single host and overlay
on a
Swarm.
The Docker Engine returns an error if the driver is not available.
driver
:
overlay
Changed in version 2.1 file format.
Starting with Compose file format 2.1, overlay networks are always created as
attachable
, and this is not configurable. This means that standalone
containers can connect to overlay networks.
driver_opts
Specify a list of options as key-value pairs to pass to the driver for this
network. Those options are driver-dependent – consult the driver’s
documentation for more information. Optional.
driver_opts
:
foo
:
"
bar"
baz
:
1
enable_ipv6
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Enable IPv6 networking on this network.
ipam
Specify custom IPAM config. This is an object with several properties, each of
which is optional:
driver
: Custom IPAM driver, instead of the default.config
: A list with zero or more config blocks, each containing any of
the following keys:subnet
: Subnet in CIDR format that represents a network segmentip_range
: Range of IPs from which to allocate container IPsgateway
: IPv4 or IPv6 gateway for the master subnetaux_addresses
: Auxiliary IPv4 or IPv6 addresses used by Network driver,
as a mapping from hostname to IP
options
: Driver-specific options as a key-value mapping.
A full example:
ipam
:
driver
:
default
config
:
-
subnet
:
172.28.0.0/16
ip_range
:
172.28.5.0/24
gateway
:
172.28.5.254
aux_addresses
:
host1
:
172.28.1.5
host2
:
172.28.1.6
host3
:
172.28.1.7
options
:
foo
:
bar
baz
:
"
0"
internal
By default, Docker also connects a bridge network to it to provide external
connectivity. If you want to create an externally isolated overlay network,
you can set this option to true
.
labels
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Add metadata to containers using
Docker labels. You can use either
an array or a dictionary.
It’s recommended that you use reverse-DNS notation to prevent your labels from
conflicting with those used by other software.
labels
:
com.example.description
:
"
Financial
transaction
network"
com.example.department
:
"
Finance"
com.example.label-with-empty-value
:
"
"
labels
:
-
"
com.example.description=Financial
transaction
network"
-
"
com.example.department=Finance"
-
"
com.example.label-with-empty-value"
external
If set to true
, specifies that this network has been created outside of
Compose. docker-compose up
does not attempt to create it, and raises
an error if it doesn’t exist.
For version 2.0 of the format, external
cannot be used in conjunction with
other network configuration keys (driver
, driver_opts
, ipam
, internal
).
This limitation no longer exists for
version 2.1 and above.
In the example below, proxy
is the gateway to the outside world. Instead of
attempting to create a network called [projectname]_outside
, Compose
looks for an existing network simply called outside
and connect the proxy
service’s containers to it.
version
:
"
2.4"
services
:
proxy
:
build
:
./proxy
networks
:
-
outside
-
default
app
:
build
:
./app
networks
:
-
default
networks
:
outside
:
external
:
true
You can also specify the name of the network separately from the name used to
refer to it within the Compose file:
version
:
"
2.4"
networks
:
outside
:
external
:
name
:
actual-name-of-network
Not supported for version 2 docker-compose
files. Use
network_mode instead.
name
Added in version 2.1 file format.
Set a custom name for this network. The name field can be used to reference
networks which contain special characters. The name is used as is
and will not be scoped with the stack name.
version
:
"
2.4"
networks
:
network1
:
name
:
my-app-net
It can also be used in conjunction with the external
property:
version
:
"
2.4"
networks
:
network1
:
external
:
true
name
:
my-app-net
Variable substitution
Your configuration options can contain environment variables. Compose uses the
variable values from the shell environment in which docker compose
is run. For
example, suppose the shell contains POSTGRES_VERSION=9.3
and you supply this
configuration:
db
:
image
:
"
postgres:${POSTGRES_VERSION}"
When you run docker compose up
with this configuration, Compose looks for the
POSTGRES_VERSION
environment variable in the shell and substitutes its value
in. For this example, Compose resolves the image
to postgres:9.3
before
running the configuration.
If an environment variable is not set, Compose substitutes with an empty
string. In the example above, if POSTGRES_VERSION
is not set, the value for
the image
option is postgres:
.
You can set default values for environment variables using a
.env
file, which Compose automatically looks for in
project directory (parent folder of your Compose file).
Values set in the shell environment override those set in the .env
file.
Note when using docker stack deploy
The
.env file
feature only works when you use thedocker compose up
command
and does not work withdocker stack deploy
.
Both $VARIABLE
and ${VARIABLE}
syntax are supported. Additionally when using
the 2.1 file format, it is possible to
provide inline default values using typical shell syntax:
${VARIABLE:-default}
evaluates todefault
ifVARIABLE
is unset or
empty in the environment.${VARIABLE-default}
evaluates todefault
only ifVARIABLE
is unset
in the environment.
Similarly, the following syntax allows you to specify mandatory variables:
${VARIABLE:?err}
exits with an error message containingerr
if
VARIABLE
is unset or empty in the environment.${VARIABLE?err}
exits with an error message containingerr
if
VARIABLE
is unset in the environment.
Other extended shell-style features, such as ${VARIABLE/foo/bar}
, are not
supported.
You can use a $$
(double-dollar sign) when your configuration needs a literal
dollar sign. This also prevents Compose from interpolating a value, so a $$
allows you to refer to environment variables that you don’t want processed by
Compose.
web
:
build
:
.
command
:
"
$$VAR_NOT_INTERPOLATED_BY_COMPOSE"
If you forget and use a single dollar sign ($
), Compose interprets the value
as an environment variable and warns you:
The VAR_NOT_INTERPOLATED_BY_COMPOSE is not set. Substituting an empty string.
Extension fields
Added in version 2.1 file format.
It is possible to re-use configuration fragments using extension fields. Those
special fields can be of any format as long as they are located at the root of
your Compose file and their name start with the x-
character sequence.
Note
Starting with the 3.7 format (for the 3.x series) and 2.4 format
(for the 2.x series), extension fields are also allowed at the root
of service, volume, network, config and secret definitions.
version
:
"
3.9"
x-custom
:
items
:
-
a
-
b
options
:
max-size
:
'
12m'
name
:
"
custom"
The contents of those fields are ignored by Compose, but they can be
inserted in your resource definitions using YAML anchors.
For example, if you want several of your services to use the same logging
configuration:
logging
:
options
:
max-size
:
'
12m'
max-file
:
'
5'
driver
:
json-file
You may write your Compose file as follows:
version
:
"
3.9"
x-logging
:
&default-logging
options
:
max-size
:
'
12m'
max-file
:
'
5'
driver
:
json-file
services
:
web
:
image
:
myapp/web:latest
logging
:
*default-logging
db
:
image
:
mysql:latest
logging
:
*default-logging
It is also possible to partially override values in extension fields using
the YAML merge type. For example:
version
:
"
3.9"
x-volumes
:
&default-volume
driver
:
foobar-storage
services
:
web
:
image
:
myapp/web:latest
volumes
:
[
"
vol1"
,
"
vol2"
,
"
vol3"
]
volumes
:
vol1
:
*default-volume
vol2
:
<<
:
*default-volume
name
:
volume02
vol3
:
<<
:
*default-volume
driver
:
default
name
:
volume-local