Master Docker Compose: Essential Commands and YAML Configuration Explained

Docker Compose Common Commands and Properties

Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi‑container Docker applications using a docker-compose.yml file that describes services, networks, volumes and other settings. With a single command you can start, stop and manage the whole application stack.

Compose organizes containers into three layers: project, service and container. All files in the working directory, especially docker-compose.yml, constitute a project. Each service defines the image, environment variables, ports, volumes, etc., and a service may run multiple container instances.

1. Common Docker Compose Commands

ps – list all running containers

docker-compose ps

build – build or rebuild services

docker-compose build

logs – view service logs

docker-compose logs

port – display the public port a service is bound to

# Show the public port bound to MySQL service port 3306
docker-compose port mysql 3306

start – start existing containers of a service

docker-compose start mysql

stop – stop running containers of a service

docker-compose stop mysql

rm – remove containers of a service

docker-compose rm mysql

scale – set the number of containers for a service (service=num)

docker-compose mysql user=3 movie=3

run – execute a command in a service

docker-compose run web bash

up – build and start containers

docker-compose up

kill – send SIGKILL to stop containers

docker-compose kill mysql

pull – download service images

docker-compose pull mysql:latest

up -d – start containers in detached mode

docker-compose up -d

2. docker-compose.yml File Attributes

The YAML file has strict indentation and consists of several top‑level sections:

version – specifies the Compose file format version.

services – defines each service with fields such as image, container_name, environment, ports, volumes, depends_on, etc.

networks – configures custom networks and aliases.

volumes – declares named volumes or host‑path mappings.

Key service fields include: image: the container image to use. container_name: custom container name. environment: environment variables passed to the container. ports: host‑to‑container port mappings. volumes: file or directory mounts, with optional ro or rw modes. restart: restart policy (e.g., always, on-failure). network_mode: sets the network mode (bridge, host, none, etc.).

3. Example docker-compose.yml

version: "3"
services:
  redis:
    image: redis:latest
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    container_name: im-redis-compose
    restart: always
    command: redis-server --appendonly yes

  rabbitmq:
    image: rabbitmq:management
    ports:
      - "5672:5672"
      - "15672:15672"
    container_name: im-rabbitmq-compose
    environment:
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_USER: guest
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_PASS: guest
      RABBITMQ_DEFAULT_VHOST: my_vhost

  backend:
    build: .
    links:
      - redis
      - rabbitmq
    container_name: im-server-compose
    restart: on-failure
    depends_on:
      - rabbitmq
      - redis
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    command: sh -c './wait-for.sh rabbitmq:15672'