Watch files and sync/rebuild
Watches project files and applies sync or rebuild actions when configured.
bashANYdockercomposewatch
bash
docker compose watchUseful for tighter inner-loop development.
Docker Compose Dev, Debugging, CI, and Production Patterns
Developer workflows, troubleshooting commands, CI flows, and small-host production Compose patterns.
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Developer Workflows
Common patterns for local development, tests, and one-off tasks.
bashANYdockercomposetests
bash
docker compose run --rm app pytest -qGreat for reproducible local and CI test runs.
bashANYdockercomposerun
bash
docker compose run --rm app npm installUseful when the project expects toolchains inside the container.
bashANYdockercomposescale
bash
docker compose up -d --scale worker=3Useful for queue consumers and basic horizontal scaling tests.
bashANYdockercomposemigrations
bash
docker compose run --rm web python manage.py migrateCommon during deploy or local setup.
Debugging and Troubleshooting
Common inspection and diagnosis commands.
bashANYdockercomposevalidate
bash
docker compose config --quietUseful in pre-commit or CI validation steps.
bashANYdockercomposepsdebug
bash
docker compose ps -aHelpful for identifying crash loops and one-off exits.
bashANYdockercomposelogssince
bash
docker compose logs --since=10m apiGood for focused debugging during incident response.
bashANYdockercomposeexecenv
bash
docker compose exec api env | sortUseful when debugging interpolation and config loading issues.
bashANYdockercomposedebugshell
bash
docker compose run --rm --entrypoint sh apiUseful when startup scripts or commands are failing.
bashANYdockercomposeinspect
bash
docker inspect $(docker compose ps -q api)Helpful when you need low-level Docker details not shown by Compose.
CI/CD and Release Patterns
Compose commands for automation pipelines.
bashANYdockercomposecibuild
bash
docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.ci.yaml buildUseful for test tools, fake services, and cache controls.
Run integration stack and exit with service code
Runs an integration stack and returns the test container exit code.
bashANYdockercomposecitests
bash
docker compose up --abort-on-container-exit --exit-code-from testA common pattern for integration test pipelines.
bashANYdockercomposecicleanup
bash
docker compose down -v --remove-orphansGood hygiene for repeatable automation.
bashANYdockercomposedeploy
bash
docker compose pull && docker compose up -dSimple deployment flow for smaller self-hosted stacks.
Production-Minded Compose Patterns
Common patterns for small-host or self-hosted deployments.
yamlANYdockercomposehealthcheckrestart
yaml
services:
app:
image: myapp:${APP_TAG:-latest}
restart: unless-stopped
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD-SHELL", "curl -fsS http://localhost:3000/health || exit 1"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3Useful for small-host production deployments and uptime monitoring.
yamlANYdockercomposereverse-proxy
yaml
services:
proxy:
image: nginx:alpine
ports:
- "80:80"
depends_on:
app:
condition: service_started
app:
image: myapp:${APP_TAG:-latest}Common for simple deployments on a single VM.
yamlANYdockercomposebackupops
yaml
services:
db:
image: postgres:16
volumes:
- pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
backup:
image: postgres:16
profiles: ["ops"]
depends_on:
- db
entrypoint: ["sh", "-c", "pg_dump -h db -U postgres appdb > /backup/appdb.sql"]
volumes:
- ./backup:/backup
volumes:
pgdata: {}Keeps maintenance commands versioned alongside the stack.
More in Docker Compose
Docker Compose Networking, Volumes, and Runtime Controls
Compose patterns for ports, networks, volumes, secrets, configs, and runtime controls.
Docker Compose Files and YAML Patterns
compose.yaml examples for services, variables, profiles, overrides, and dependency-aware startup.
Docker Compose Cheat Sheet
Commands for starting, stopping, inspecting, and operating Docker Compose projects.