Compose file version 3 reference

Compose file version 3 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 3 of the Compose file format. This is the newest
version.

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+.

Compose file structure and examples

Here is a sample Compose file from the voting app sample used in the
Docker for Beginners lab
topic on Deploying an app to a Swarm:


version: "3.9"
services:

  redis:
    image: redis:alpine
    ports:
      - "6379"
    networks:
      - frontend
    deploy:
      replicas: 2
      update_config:
        parallelism: 2
        delay: 10s
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure

  db:
    image: postgres:9.4
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    networks:
      - backend
    deploy:
      placement:
        max_replicas_per_node: 1
        constraints:
          - "node.role==manager"

  vote:
    image: dockersamples/examplevotingapp_vote:before
    ports:
      - "5000:80"
    networks:
      - frontend
    depends_on:
      - redis
    deploy:
      replicas: 2
      update_config:
        parallelism: 2
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure

  result:
    image: dockersamples/examplevotingapp_result:before
    ports:
      - "5001:80"
    networks:
      - backend
    depends_on:
      - db
    deploy:
      replicas: 1
      update_config:
        parallelism: 2
        delay: 10s
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure

  worker:
    image: dockersamples/examplevotingapp_worker
    networks:
      - frontend
      - backend
    deploy:
      mode: replicated
      replicas: 1
      labels: [APP=VOTING]
      restart_policy:
        condition: on-failure
        delay: 10s
        max_attempts: 3
        window: 120s
      placement:
        constraints:
          - "node.role==manager"

  visualizer:
    image: dockersamples/visualizer:stable
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    stop_grace_period: 1m30s
    volumes:
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock"
    deploy:
      placement:
        constraints:
          - "node.role==manager"

networks:
  frontend:
  backend:

volumes:
  db-data:

The topics on this reference page are organized alphabetically by top-level key
to reflect the structure of the Compose file itself. Top-level keys that define
a section in the configuration file such as build, deploy, depends_on,
networks, and so on, are listed with the options that support them as
sub-topics. This maps to the <key>: <option>: <value> indent structure of the
Compose file.

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 3.

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

:

"

3.9"

services

:

webapp

:

build

:

./dir

Or, as an object with the path specified under context and
optionally Dockerfile and args:

version

:

"

3.9"

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.

Note when using docker stack deploy

The build option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode
The docker stack command does not build images before deploying.

context

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

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 the FROM instruction,
ARG is not available in the build instructions under FROM.
If you need an argument to be available in both places, also specify it under
the FROM 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 3.2 file format

A list of images that the engine uses for cache resolution.

build

:

context

:

.

cache_from

:

-

alpine:latest

-

corp/web_app:3.14

labels

Added in version 3.3 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 3.4 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 3.5 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 3.4 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

Note when using docker stack deploy

The cap_add and cap_drop options are ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode

cgroup_parent

Specify an optional parent cgroup for the container.

cgroup_parent

:

m-executor-abcd

Note when using docker stack deploy

The cgroup_parent option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode

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"

]

configs

Grant access to configs on a per-service basis using the per-service configs
configuration. Two different syntax variants are supported.

Note: The config must already exist or be
defined in the top-level configs configuration
of this stack file, or stack deployment fails.

For more information on configs, see configs.

Short syntax

The short syntax variant only specifies the config name. This grants the
container access to the config and mounts it at /<config_name>
within the container. The source name and destination mountpoint are both set
to the config name.

The following example uses the short syntax to grant the redis service
access to the my_config and my_other_config configs. The value of
my_config is set to the contents of the file ./my_config.txt, and
my_other_config is defined as an external resource, which means that it has
already been defined in Docker, either by running the docker config create
command or by another stack deployment. If the external config does not exist,
the stack deployment fails with a config not found error.

Added in version 3.3 file format.

config definitions are only supported in version 3.3 and higher of the
compose file format.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:latest

deploy

:

replicas

:

1

configs

:

-

my_config

-

my_other_config

configs

:

my_config

:

file

:

./my_config.txt

my_other_config

:

external

:

true

Long syntax

The long syntax provides more granularity in how the config is created within
the service’s task containers.

  • source: The identifier of the config as it is defined in this configuration.
  • target: The path and name of the file to be mounted in the service’s
    task containers. Defaults to /<source> if not specified.
  • uid and gid: The numeric UID or GID that owns the mounted config file
    within in the service’s task containers. Both default to 0 on Linux if not
    specified. Not supported on Windows.
  • mode: The permissions for the file that is mounted within the service’s
    task containers, in octal notation. For instance, 0444
    represents world-readable. The default is 0444. Configs cannot be writable
    because they are mounted in a temporary filesystem, so if you set the writable
    bit, it is ignored. The executable bit can be set. If you aren’t familiar with
    UNIX file permission modes, you may find this
    permissions calculator
    useful.

The following example sets the name of my_config to redis_config within the
container, sets the mode to 0440 (group-readable) and sets the user and group
to 103. The redis service does not have access to the my_other_config
config.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:latest

deploy

:

replicas

:

1

configs

:

-

source

:

my_config

target

:

/redis_config

uid

:

'

103'

gid

:

'

103'

mode

:

0440

configs

:

my_config

:

file

:

./my_config.txt

my_other_config

:

external

:

true

You can grant a service access to multiple configs and you can mix long and
short syntax. Defining a config does not imply granting a service access to it.

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.

Note when using docker stack deploy

The container_name option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode

credential_spec

Added in version 3.3 file format.

The credential_spec option was added in v3.3. Using group Managed Service
Account (gMSA) configurations with compose files is supported in file format
version 3.8 or up.

Configure the credential spec for managed service account. This option is only
used for services using Windows containers. The credential_spec must be in the
format file://<filename> or registry://<value-name>.

When using file:, the referenced file must be present in the CredentialSpecs
subdirectory in the Docker data directory, which defaults to C:\ProgramData\Docker\
on Windows. The following example loads the credential spec from a file named
C:\ProgramData\Docker\CredentialSpecs\my-credential-spec.json.

credential_spec

:

file

:

my-credential-spec.json

When using registry:, the credential spec is read from the Windows registry on
the daemon’s host. A registry value with the given name must be located in:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtualization\Containers\CredentialSpecs

The following example load the credential spec from a value named my-credential-spec
in the registry:

credential_spec

:

registry

:

my-credential-spec

Example gMSA configuration

When configuring a gMSA credential spec for a service, you only need
to specify a credential spec with config, as shown in the following example:

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

myservice

:

image

:

myimage:latest

credential_spec

:

config

:

my_credential_spec

configs

:

my_credentials_spec

:

file

:

./my-credential-spec.json|

depends_on

Express dependency between services. Service dependencies cause the following
behaviors:

  • docker-compose up starts services in dependency order. In the following
    example, db and redis are started before web.
  • docker-compose up SERVICE automatically includes SERVICE’s
    dependencies. In the example below, docker-compose up web also
    creates and starts db and redis.
  • docker-compose stop stops services in dependency order. In the following
    example, web is stopped before db and redis.

Simple example:

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

web

:

build

:

.

depends_on

:

-

db

-

redis

redis

:

image

:

redis

db

:

image

:

postgres

There are several things to be aware of when using depends_on:

  • depends_on does not wait for db and redis to be “ready” before
    starting web – 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.
  • The depends_on option is ignored when
    deploying a stack in swarm mode
    with a version 3 Compose file.

deploy

Added in version 3 file format.

Specify configuration related to the deployment and running of services. The following
sub-options only takes effect when deploying to a swarm with
docker stack deploy, and is
ignored by docker-compose up and docker-compose run, except for resources.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:alpine

deploy

:

replicas

:

6

placement

:

max_replicas_per_node

:

1

update_config

:

parallelism

:

2

delay

:

10s

restart_policy

:

condition

:

on-failure

Several sub-options are available:

endpoint_mode

Added in version 3.2 file format.

Specify a service discovery method for external clients connecting to a swarm.

  • endpoint_mode: vip – Docker assigns the service a virtual IP (VIP)
    that acts as the front end for clients to reach the service on a
    network. Docker routes requests between the client and available worker
    nodes for the service, without client knowledge of how many nodes
    are participating in the service or their IP addresses or ports.
    (This is the default.)

  • endpoint_mode: dnsrr – DNS round-robin (DNSRR) service discovery does
    not use a single virtual IP. Docker sets up DNS entries for the service
    such that a DNS query for the service name returns a list of IP addresses,
    and the client connects directly to one of these. DNS round-robin is useful
    in cases where you want to use your own load balancer, or for Hybrid
    Windows and Linux applications.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

wordpress

:

image

:

wordpress

ports

:

-

"

8080:80"

networks

:

-

overlay

deploy

:

mode

:

replicated

replicas

:

2

endpoint_mode

:

vip

mysql

:

image

:

mysql

volumes

:

-

db-data:/var/lib/mysql/data

networks

:

-

overlay

deploy

:

mode

:

replicated

replicas

:

2

endpoint_mode

:

dnsrr

volumes

:

db-data

:

networks

:

overlay

:

The options for endpoint_mode also work as flags on the swarm mode CLI command
docker service create. For a
quick list of all swarm related docker commands, see
Swarm mode CLI commands.

To learn more about service discovery and networking in swarm mode, see
Configure service discovery
in the swarm mode topics.

labels

Specify labels for the service. These labels are only set on the service,
and not on any containers for the service.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

web

:

image

:

web

deploy

:

labels

:

com.example.description

:

"

This

label

will

appear

on

the

web

service"

To set labels on containers instead, use the labels key outside of deploy:

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

web

:

image

:

web

labels

:

com.example.description

:

"

This

label

will

appear

on

all

containers

for

the

web

service"

mode

Either global (exactly one container per swarm node) or replicated (a
specified number of containers). The default is replicated. (To learn more,
see Replicated and global services
in the swarm topics.)

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

worker

:

image

:

dockersamples/examplevotingapp_worker

deploy

:

mode

:

global

placement

Specify placement of constraints and preferences. See the docker service create
documentation for a full description of the syntax and available types of
constraints,
preferences,
and specifying the maximum replicas per node

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

db

:

image

:

postgres

deploy

:

placement

:

constraints

:

-

"

node.role==manager"

-

"

engine.labels.operatingsystem==ubuntu

18.04"

preferences

:

-

spread

:

node.labels.zone

max_replicas_per_node

Added in version 3.8 file format.

If the service is replicated (which is the default), limit the number of replicas
that can run on a node at any time.

When there are more tasks requested than running nodes, an error
no suitable node (max replicas per node limit exceed) is raised.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

worker

:

image

:

dockersamples/examplevotingapp_worker

networks

:

-

frontend

-

backend

deploy

:

mode

:

replicated

replicas

:

6

placement

:

max_replicas_per_node

:

1

replicas

If the service is replicated (which is the default), specify the number of
containers that should be running at any given time.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

worker

:

image

:

dockersamples/examplevotingapp_worker

networks

:

-

frontend

-

backend

deploy

:

mode

:

replicated

replicas

:

6

resources

Configures resource constraints.

Changed in compose-file version 3

The resources section replaces the older resource constraint options
in Compose files prior to version 3 (cpu_shares, cpu_quota, cpuset,
mem_limit, memswap_limit, mem_swappiness).
Refer to Upgrading version 2.x to 3.x
to learn about differences between version 2 and 3 of the compose-file format.

Each of these is a single value, analogous to its
docker service create counterpart.

In this general example, the redis service is constrained to use no more than
50M of memory and 0.50 (50% of a single core) of available processing time (CPU),
and has 20M of memory and 0.25 CPU time reserved (as always available to it).

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:alpine

deploy

:

resources

:

limits

:

cpus

:

'

0.50'

memory

:

50M

reservations

:

cpus

:

'

0.25'

memory

:

20M

The topics below describe available options to set resource constraints on
services or containers in a swarm.

Looking for options to set resources on non swarm mode containers?

The options described here are specific to the
deploy key and swarm mode. If you want to set resource constraints
on non swarm deployments, use
Compose file format version 2 CPU, memory, and other resource options.
If you have further questions, refer to the discussion on the GitHub
issue docker/compose/4513.

Out Of Memory Exceptions (OOME)

If your services or containers attempt to use more memory than the system has
available, you may experience an Out Of Memory Exception (OOME) and a container,
or the Docker daemon, might be killed by the kernel OOM killer. To prevent this
from happening, ensure that your application runs on hosts with adequate memory
and see Understand the risks of running out of memory.

restart_policy

Configures if and how to restart containers when they exit. Replaces
restart.

  • condition: One of none, on-failure or any (default: any).
  • delay: How long to wait between restart attempts, specified as a
    duration (default: 5s).
  • max_attempts: How many times to attempt to restart a container before giving
    up (default: never give up). If the restart does not succeed within the configured
    window, this attempt doesn’t count toward the configured max_attempts value.
    For example, if max_attempts is set to ‘2’, and the restart fails on the first
    attempt, more than two restarts may be attempted.
  • window: How long to wait before deciding if a restart has succeeded,
    specified as a duration (default:
    decide immediately).

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:alpine

deploy

:

restart_policy

:

condition

:

on-failure

delay

:

5s

max_attempts

:

3

window

:

120s

rollback_config

Added in version 3.7 file format.

Configures how the service should be rollbacked in case of a failing
update.

  • parallelism: The number of containers to rollback at a time. If set to 0, all containers rollback simultaneously.
  • delay: The time to wait between each container group’s rollback (default 0s).
  • failure_action: What to do if a rollback fails. One of continue or pause (default pause)
  • monitor: Duration after each task update to monitor for failure (ns|us|ms|s|m|h) (default 5s) Note: Setting to 0 will use the default 5s.
  • max_failure_ratio: Failure rate to tolerate during a rollback (default 0).
  • order: Order of operations during rollbacks. One of stop-first (old task is stopped before starting new one), or start-first (new task is started first, and the running tasks briefly overlap) (default stop-first).

Configures how the service should be updated. Useful for configuring rolling
updates.

  • parallelism: The number of containers to update at a time.
  • delay: The time to wait between updating a group of containers.
  • failure_action: What to do if an update fails. One of continue, rollback, or pause
    (default: pause).
  • monitor: Duration after each task update to monitor for failure (ns|us|ms|s|m|h) (default 5s) Note: Setting to 0 will use the default 5s.
  • max_failure_ratio: Failure rate to tolerate during an update.
  • order: Order of operations during updates. One of stop-first (old task is stopped before starting new one), or start-first (new task is started first, and the running tasks briefly overlap) (default stop-first) Note: Only supported for v3.4 and higher.

Added in version 3.4 file format.

The order option is only supported by v3.4 and higher of the compose
file format.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

vote

:

image

:

dockersamples/examplevotingapp_vote:before

depends_on

:

-

redis

deploy

:

replicas

:

2

update_config

:

parallelism

:

2

delay

:

10s

order

:

stop-first

Not supported for docker stack deploy

The following sub-options (supported for docker-compose up and docker-compose run) are not supported for docker stack deploy or the deploy key.

Tip

See the section on how to configure volumes for services, swarms, and docker-stack.yml
files. Volumes are supported
but to work with swarms and services, they must be configured as named volumes
or associated with services that are constrained to nodes with access to the
requisite volumes.

devices

List of device mappings. Uses the same format as the --device docker
client create option.

devices

:

-

"

/dev/ttyUSB0:/dev/ttyUSB0"

Note when using docker stack deploy

The devices option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode

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

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 the ENTRYPOINT Dockerfile instruction, and clears out any default
command on the image – meaning that if there’s a CMD 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

Compose also recognizes inline comments, like in:

MY_VAR = value # this is a comment

To avoid interpreting “#” as an inline comment, use the quotation marks:

MY_VAR = "All the # inside are taken as part of the value"

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 of build 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 of build 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"

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

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.

Note when using docker stack deploy

The external_links option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode

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

healthcheck

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 3.4 file format.

The start_period option was added in file format 3.4.

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 3.7 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

:

"

3.9"

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

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"

Warning

The --link flag is a legacy feature of Docker. It may eventually be removed.
Unless you absolutely need to continue using it, we recommend that you use
user-defined networks
to facilitate communication between two containers instead of using --link.

One feature that user-defined networks do not support that you can do with
--link is sharing environmental variables between containers. However, you
can use other mechanisms such as volumes to share environment variables between
containers in a more controlled way.

Link to containers in another service. Either specify both the service name and
a link alias ("SERVICE:ALIAS"), or just the service name.

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
Link containers section 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.

Note when using docker stack deploy

The links option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode

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 and journald drivers make the logs available directly
from docker-compose up and docker-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"

The default driver json-file, has options to limit the amount of logs stored. To do this, use a key-value pair for maximum storage size and maximum number of files:

options

:

max-size

:

"

200k"

max-file

:

"

10"

The example shown above would store log files until they reach a max-size of
200kB, and then rotate them. The amount of individual log files stored is
specified by the max-file value. As logs grow beyond the max limits, older log
files are removed to allow storage of new logs.

Here is an example docker-compose.yml file that limits logging storage:

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

some-service

:

image

:

some-service

logging

:

driver

:

"

json-file"

options

:

max-size

:

"

200k"

max-file

:

"

10"

Logging options available depend on which logging driver you use

The above example for controlling log files and sizes uses options
specific to the json-file driver.
These particular options are not available on other logging drivers.
For a full list of supported logging drivers and their options, refer to the
logging drivers documentation.

network_mode

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]"

Note

  • This option is ignored when
    deploying a stack in swarm mode.
  • network_mode: "host" cannot be mixed with links.

networks

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

:

"

3.9"

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 configurations covering each static address.

If you’d like to use IPv6, you must first ensure that the Docker daemon is configured to support IPv6. See Enable IPv6 for detailed instructions. You can then access IPv6 addressing in a version 3.x Compose file by editing the /etc/docker/daemon.json to contain:
{"ipv6": true, "fixed-cidr-v6": "2001:db8:1::/64"}

Then, reload the docker daemon and edit docker-compose.yml to contain the following under the service:

    

sysctls

:

-

net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6=0

The enable_ipv6
option is only available in a version 2.x Compose file.
IPv6 options do not currently work in swarm mode.

An example:

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

app

:

image

:

nginx:alpine

networks

:

app_net

:

ipv4_address

:

172.16.238.10

ipv6_address

:

2001:3984:3989::10

networks

:

app_net

:

ipam

:

driver

:

default

config

:

-

subnet

:

"

172.16.238.0/24"

-

subnet

:

"

2001:3984:3989::/64"

pid

pid

:

"

host"

Sets the PID mode to 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.

ports

Expose ports.

Note

Port mapping is incompatible with network_mode: host

Note

docker-compose run ignores ports unless you include --service-ports.

Short syntax

There are three options:

  • Specify both ports (HOST:CONTAINER)
  • Specify just the container port (an ephemeral host port is chosen for the host port).
  • Specify the host IP address to bind to AND both ports (the default is 0.0.0.0, meaning all interfaces): (IPADDR:HOSTPORT:CONTAINERPORT). If HOSTPORT is empty (for example 127.0.0.1::80), an ephemeral port is chosen to bind to on the host.

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 format xx: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"

-

"

127.0.0.1::5000"

-

"

6060:6060/udp"

-

"

12400-12500:1240"

Long syntax

The long form syntax allows the configuration of additional fields that can’t be
expressed in the short form.

  • target: the port inside the container
  • published: the publicly exposed port
  • protocol: the port protocol (tcp or udp)
  • mode: host for publishing a host port on each node, or ingress for a swarm
    mode port to be load balanced.

ports

:

-

target

:

80

published

:

8080

protocol

:

tcp

mode

:

host

Added in version 3.2 file format.

The long syntax is new in the v3.2 file format.

profiles

profiles

:

[

"

frontend"

,

"

debug"

]

profiles

:

-

frontend

-

debug

profiles defines a list of named profiles for the service to be enabled under.
When not set, the service is always enabled. For the services that make up
your core application you should omit profiles so they will always be started.

Valid profile names follow the regex format [a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_.-]+.

See also Using profiles with Compose to learn more about
profiles.

restart

no is the default restart policy, and it does not 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. unless-stopped always restarts a container, except when the
container is stopped (manually or otherwise).

restart: "no"
restart: always
restart: on-failure
restart: unless-stopped

Note when using docker stack deploy

The restart option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode.

secrets

Grant access to secrets on a per-service basis using the per-service secrets
configuration. Two different syntax variants are supported.

Note when using docker stack deploy

The secret must already exist or be
defined in the top-level secrets configuration
of the compose file, or stack deployment fails.

For more information on secrets, see secrets.

Short syntax

The short syntax variant only specifies the secret name. This grants the
container access to the secret and mounts it at /run/secrets/<secret_name>
within the container. The source name and destination mountpoint are both set
to the secret name.

The following example uses the short syntax to grant the redis service
access to the my_secret and my_other_secret secrets. The value of
my_secret is set to the contents of the file ./my_secret.txt, and
my_other_secret is defined as an external resource, which means that it has
already been defined in Docker, either by running the docker secret create
command or by another stack deployment. If the external secret does not exist,
the stack deployment fails with a secret not found error.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:latest

deploy

:

replicas

:

1

secrets

:

-

my_secret

-

my_other_secret

secrets

:

my_secret

:

file

:

./my_secret.txt

my_other_secret

:

external

:

true

Long syntax

The long syntax provides more granularity in how the secret is created within
the service’s task containers.

  • source: The identifier of the secret as it is defined in this configuration.
  • target: The name of the file to be mounted in /run/secrets/ in the
    service’s task containers. Defaults to source if not specified.
  • uid and gid: The numeric UID or GID that owns the file within
    /run/secrets/ in the service’s task containers. Both default to 0 if not
    specified.
  • mode: The permissions for the file to be mounted in /run/secrets/
    in the service’s task containers, in octal notation. For instance, 0444
    represents world-readable. The default in Docker 1.13.1 is 0000, but it is
    0444 in newer versions. Secrets cannot be writable because they are mounted
    in a temporary filesystem, so if you set the writable bit, it is ignored. The
    executable bit can be set. If you aren’t familiar with UNIX file permission
    modes, you may find this
    permissions calculator
    useful.

The following example sets name of the my_secret to redis_secret within the
container, sets the mode to 0440 (group-readable) and sets the user and group
to 103. The redis service does not have access to the my_other_secret
secret.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

redis

:

image

:

redis:latest

deploy

:

replicas

:

1

secrets

:

-

source

:

my_secret

target

:

redis_secret

uid

:

'

103'

gid

:

'

103'

mode

:

0440

secrets

:

my_secret

:

file

:

./my_secret.txt

my_other_secret

:

external

:

true

You can grant a service access to multiple secrets and you can mix long and
short syntax. Defining a secret does not imply granting a service access to it.

security_opt

Override the default labeling scheme for each container.

security_opt

:

-

label:user:USER

-

label:role:ROLE

Note when using docker stack deploy

The security_opt option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode.

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

sysctls

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

You can only use sysctls that are namespaced in the kernel. Docker does not
support changing sysctls inside a container that also modify the host system.
For an overview of supported sysctls, refer to
configure namespaced kernel parameters (sysctls) at runtime.

Note when using docker stack deploy

This option requires Docker Engine 19.03 or up when
deploying a stack in swarm mode.

tmpfs

Added in version 3.6 file format.

Mount a temporary file system inside the container. Can be a single value or a list.

tmpfs

:

/run

tmpfs

:

-

/run

-

/tmp

Note when using docker stack deploy

This option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode
with a (version 3-3.5) Compose file.

Mount a temporary file system inside the container. Size parameter specifies the size
of the tmpfs mount in bytes. Unlimited by default.

-

type

:

tmpfs

target

:

/app

tmpfs

:

size

:

1000

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

userns_mode

:

"

host"

Disables the user namespace for this service, if Docker daemon is configured with user namespaces.
See dockerd for
more information.

Note when using docker stack deploy

The userns_mode option is ignored when
deploying a stack in swarm mode.

volumes

Mount host paths or named volumes, specified as sub-options to a service.

You can mount a host path as part of a definition for a single service, and
there is no need to define it in the top level volumes key.

But, if you want to reuse a volume across multiple services, then define a named
volume in the top-level volumes key. Use
named volumes with services, swarms, and stack
files.

Changed in version 3 file format.

The top-level volumes key defines
a named volume and references it from each service’s volumes list. This
replaces volumes_from in earlier versions of the Compose file format.

This example shows a named volume (mydata) being used by the web service,
and a bind mount defined for a single service (first path under db service
volumes). The db service also uses a named volume called dbdata (second
path under db service volumes), but defines it using the old string format
for mounting a named volume. Named volumes must be listed under the top-level
volumes key, as shown.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

web

:

image

:

nginx:alpine

volumes

:

-

type

:

volume

source

:

mydata

target

:

/data

volume

:

nocopy

:

true

-

type

:

bind

source

:

./static

target

:

/opt/app/static

db

:

image

:

postgres:latest

volumes

:

-

"

/var/run/postgres/postgres.sock:/var/run/postgres/postgres.sock"

-

"

dbdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data"

volumes

:

mydata

:

dbdata

:

Note

For general information on volumes, refer to the use volumes
and volume plugins sections in the documentation.

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 3.2 file format.

The long form syntax allows the configuration of additional fields that can’t be
expressed in the short form.

  • type: the mount type volume, bind, tmpfs or npipe
  • 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-level volumes key. Not applicable for a tmpfs mount.
  • target: the path in the container where the volume is mounted
  • read_only: flag to set the volume as read-only
  • bind: configure additional bind options
    • propagation: the propagation mode used for the bind
  • volume: configure additional volume options
    • nocopy: flag to disable copying of data from a container when a volume is
      created
  • tmpfs: configure additional tmpfs options
    • size: the size for the tmpfs mount in bytes

version

:

"

3.9"

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.

Volumes for services, swarms, and stack files

Note when using docker stack deploy

When working with services, swarms, and docker-stack.yml files, keep in mind
that the tasks (containers) backing a service can be deployed on any node in a
swarm, and this may be a different node each time the service is updated.

In the absence of having named volumes with specified sources, Docker creates an
anonymous volume for each task backing a service. Anonymous volumes do not
persist after the associated containers are removed.

If you want your data to persist, use a named volume and a volume driver that
is multi-host aware, so that the data is accessible from any node. Or, set
constraints on the service so that its tasks are deployed on a node that has the
volume present.

As an example, the docker-stack.yml file for the
votingapp sample in Docker Labs
defines a service called db that runs a postgres database. It is configured
as a named volume to persist the data on the swarm, and is constrained to run
only on manager nodes. Here is the relevant snip-it from that file:

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

db

:

image

:

postgres:9.4

volumes

:

-

db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

networks

:

-

backend

deploy

:

placement

:

constraints

:

[

node.role == manager

]

domainname, hostname, ipc, mac_address, privileged, read_only, shm_size, stdin_open, tty, user, working_dir

Each of these is a single value, analogous to its
docker run counterpart. Note that mac_address is a legacy option.

user

:

postgresql

working_dir

:

/code

domainname

:

foo.com

hostname

:

foo

ipc

:

host

mac_address

:

02:42:ac:11:65:43

privileged

:

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
check, 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 shm_size sub-option for
build, 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

:

"

3.9"

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 3.3 and below 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 3.4 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

:

"

3.9"

services

:

db

:

image

:

postgres

volumes

:

-

data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes

:

data

:

external

:

true

Deprecated in version 3.4 file format.

external.name was deprecated in version 3.4 file format use name instead.

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

Note when using docker stack deploy

External volumes that do not exist are created if you use docker stack deploy
to launch the app in swarm mode (instead of
docker compose up). In swarm mode, a volume is
automatically created when it is defined by a service. As service tasks are
scheduled on new nodes, swarmkit
creates the volume on the local node. To learn more, see moby/moby#29976.

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

:

"

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 3.4 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

:

"

3.9"

volumes

:

data

:

name

:

my-app-data

It can also be used in conjunction with the external property:

version

:

"

3.9"

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 and all
    network driver options, see the Networking guide.
  • For Docker Labs
    tutorials on networking, start with Designing Scalable, Portable Docker Container Networks

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

bridge

Docker defaults to using a bridge network on a single host. For examples of
how to work with bridge networks, see the Docker Labs tutorial on
Bridge networking.

overlay

The overlay driver creates a named network across multiple nodes in a
swarm.

  • For a working example of how to build and use an
    overlay network with a service in swarm mode, see the Docker Labs tutorial on
    Overlay networking and service discovery.

  • For an in-depth look at how it works under the hood, see the
    networking concepts lab on the
    Overlay Driver Network Architecture.

host or none

Use the host’s networking stack, or no networking. Equivalent to
docker run --net=host or docker run --net=none. Only used if you use
docker stack commands. If you use the docker-compose command,
use network_mode instead.

If you want to use a particular network on a common build, use [network] as
mentioned in the second yaml file example.

The syntax for using built-in networks such as host and none is a little
different. Define an external network with the name host or none (that
Docker has already created automatically) and an alias that Compose can use
(hostnet or nonet in the following examples), then grant the service access to that
network using the alias.

version

:

"

3.9"

services

:

web

:

networks

:

hostnet

:

{}

networks

:

hostnet

:

external

:

true

name

:

host

services

:

web

:

...

build

:

...

network

:

host

context

:

.

...

services

:

web

:

...

networks

:

nonet

:

{}

networks

:

nonet

:

external

:

true

name

:

none

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

attachable

Added in version 3.2 file format.

Only used when the driver is set to overlay. If set to true, then
standalone containers can attach to this network, in addition to services. If a
standalone container attaches to an overlay network, it can communicate with
services and standalone containers that are also attached to the overlay
network from other Docker daemons.

networks

:

mynet1

:

driver

:

overlay

attachable

:

true

enable_ipv6

Enable IPv6 networking on this network.

Not supported in Compose File version 3

enable_ipv6 requires you to use a version 2 Compose file, as this directive
is not yet supported in Swarm mode.

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 segment

A full example:

ipam

:

driver

:

default

config

:

-

subnet

:

172.28.0.0/16

Note

Additional IPAM configurations, such as gateway, are only honored for version 2 at the moment.

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

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 3.3 and below 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 3.4 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

:

"

3.9"

services

:

proxy

:

build

:

./proxy

networks

:

-

outside

-

default

app

:

build

:

./app

networks

:

-

default

networks

:

outside

:

external

:

true

Deprecated in version 3.5 file format.

external.name was deprecated in version 3.5 file format use name instead.

You can also specify the name of the network separately from the name used to
refer to it within the Compose file:

version

:

"

3.9"

networks

:

outside

:

external

:

name

:

actual-name-of-network

name

Added in version 3.5 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

:

"

3.9"

networks

:

network1

:

name

:

my-app-net

It can also be used in conjunction with the external property:

version

:

"

3.9"

networks

:

network1

:

external

:

true

name

:

my-app-net

configs configuration reference

The top-level configs declaration defines or references
configs that can be granted to the services in
this stack. The source of the config is either file or external.

  • file: The config is created with the contents of the file at the specified
    path.
  • external: If set to true, specifies that this config has already been
    created. Docker does not attempt to create it, and if it does not exist, a
    config not found error occurs.
  • name: The name of the config object in Docker. This field can be used to
    reference configs that contain special characters. The name is used as is
    and will not be scoped with the stack name. Introduced in version 3.5
    file format.
  • driver and driver_opts: The name of a custom secret driver, and driver-specific
    options passed as key/value pairs. Introduced in version 3.8 file format, and
    only supported when using docker stack.
  • template_driver: The name of the templating driver to use, which controls
    whether and how to evaluate the secret payload as a template. If no driver
    is set, no templating is used. The only driver currently supported is golang,
    which uses a golang. Introduced in version 3.8 file format, and only supported
    when using docker stack. Refer to use a templated config
    for a examples of templated configs.

In this example, my_first_config is created (as
<stack_name>_my_first_config)when the stack is deployed,
and my_second_config already exists in Docker.

configs

:

my_first_config

:

file

:

./config_data

my_second_config

:

external

:

true

Another variant for external configs is when the name of the config in Docker
is different from the name that exists within the service. The following
example modifies the previous one to use the external config called
redis_config.

configs

:

my_first_config

:

file

:

./config_data

my_second_config

:

external

:

name

:

redis_config

You still need to grant access to the config to each service in the
stack.

secrets configuration reference

The top-level secrets declaration defines or references
secrets that can be granted to the services in
this stack. The source of the secret is either file or external.

  • file: The secret is created with the contents of the file at the specified
    path.
  • external: If set to true, specifies that this secret has already been
    created. Docker does not attempt to create it, and if it does not exist, a
    secret not found error occurs.
  • name: The name of the secret object in Docker. This field can be used to
    reference secrets that contain special characters. The name is used as is
    and will not be scoped with the stack name. Introduced in version 3.5
    file format.
  • template_driver: The name of the templating driver to use, which controls
    whether and how to evaluate the secret payload as a template. If no driver
    is set, no templating is used. The only driver currently supported is golang,
    which uses a golang. Introduced in version 3.8 file format, and only
    supported when using docker stack.

In this example, my_first_secret is created as
<stack_name>_my_first_secret when the stack is deployed,
and my_second_secret already exists in Docker.

secrets

:

my_first_secret

:

file

:

./secret_data

my_second_secret

:

external

:

true

Another variant for external secrets is when the name of the secret in Docker
is different from the name that exists within the service. The following
example modifies the previous one to use the external secret called
redis_secret.

Compose File v3.5 and above

secrets

:

my_first_secret

:

file

:

./secret_data

my_second_secret

:

external

:

true

name

:

redis_secret

Compose File v3.4 and under

  

my_second_secret

:

external

:

name

:

redis_secret

You still need to grant access to the secrets to each service in the
stack.

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 the docker compose up command
and does not work with docker 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 to default if VARIABLE is unset or
    empty in the environment.
  • ${VARIABLE-default} evaluates to default only if VARIABLE is unset
    in the environment.

Similarly, the following syntax allows you to specify mandatory variables:

  • ${VARIABLE:?err} exits with an error message containing err if
    VARIABLE is unset or empty in the environment.
  • ${VARIABLE?err} exits with an error message containing err 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 3.4 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

Compose documentation