cli.md

CLI

Compose CLI Reference

All commands of docker compose can be found here

Docker Hub

docker compose pull

Pull service images.

docker compose pull --ignore-pull-failures

This command pulls the latest images for the services defined in the docker compose.yml file from the remote registry, and ignores images with pull failures (--ignore-pull-failures). This is useful for updating images without rebuilding them

--ignore-pull-failures

Pull what it can and ignore images with pull failures.

Information

docker compose ps

List active containers.

docker compose ps -a

This command lists all containers, including stopped ones (-a). It provides a quick overview of the current state of the containers managed by Docker Compose.

-q

Display only container IDs.

-a

Show all containers, including stopped ones.

-f

Follow log output (live stream).

--tail=NUM

Output the last NUM lines.

docker compose logs

View output from containers.

docker compose logs -f --tail=50 myservice

This command displays the log output from the myservice container. It follows the log output in real-time (-f), and only shows the last 50 lines (--tail=50). This is useful for monitoring and debugging applications.

docker compose ls

List running compose projects.

docker compose ls -a

--all or -a

Show all compose projects, including stopped ones.

Work With Compose

docker compose up

Build, (re)create, start, and attach to containers for a service.

docker compose up -d --build

This command reads the docker compose.yml file, builds the images for the defined services if they don't exist or if the --build flag is used, creates and starts the containers in the background (-d flag), and detaches from them. This is a convenient way to start all services and their dependencies.

-d

Detach and run containers in the background.

--build

Build images before starting containers.

--scale SERVICE=NUM

Scale the specified service to the desired number of replicas.

docker compose run

Run a one-off command on a service.

docker compose run --rm myservice python manage.py migrate

This command runs the python manage.py migrate command inside a new myservice container and removes the container after the command has finished executing (--rm). This is useful for running one-off tasks or scripts that should not interfere with the primary service container.

--rm

Remove container after run.

--no-deps

Do not start linked services.

docker compose down

Stop and remove containers, networks, images, and volumes.

docker compose down --rmi all -v

This command stops and removes containers, networks, all images used by any service (--rmi all), and named volumes (-v).
It is useful for cleaning up the environment and starting fresh.

--rmi all

Remove all images used by any service.

-v

Remove named volumes.

docker compose build

Build or rebuild services.

docker compose build --no-cache myservice

This command builds (or rebuilds) the myservice image without using cache (--no-cache).
It is helpful when you want to force a new build from scratch or when you've made changes to the Dockerfile or the context.

--force-rm

Always remove intermediate containers.

--no-cache

Do not use cache when building the image.

--pull

Always attempt to pull a newer version of the image.

docker compose stop

Stop services.

docker compose stop myservice

This command stops the myservice container without removing it. You can later start the container again using docker compose start.

SERVICE

Specify the service(s) to stop.

docker compose start

Start existing containers for a service.

docker compose start myservice

This command starts the existing myservice container that was previously stopped. It is useful for resuming services without recreating containers.

SERVICE

Specify the service(s) to start.

docker compose rm

Remove stopped containers.

docker compose rm -f -v

This command forcefully removes stopped containers (-f) and any anonymous volumes attached to them (-v). It is used for cleaning up stopped containers that are no longer needed.

-f

Don't ask to confirm removal.

-v

Remove any anonymous volumes attached to containers.

docker compose kill

When you run docker-compose kill, it sends a SIGKILL signal to all the containers defined in your docker-compose.yml file, causing them to stop immediately. This is a more aggressive way of stopping the containers than using docker-compose down, which sends a SIGTERM signal to the containers and allows them to shut down gracefully.

docker compose kill -s SIGINT

--remove-orphans

If a container is stopped or removed outside of Docker Compose's control, it becomes an orphan container. This means that the container still exists on the system, but is not being managed by Docker Compose, and thus will not show up in docker-compose ps. This option will remove any orphan containers that are attached to the project-specific network.

--signal or -s

SIGNAL to send to the container. Default is SIGKILL

Interaction

docker compose exec

Execute a command in a running container.

docker compose exec myservice ls /app

This command executes the ls /app command inside the running myservice container. It allows you to run arbitrary commands inside a specific container, which is helpful for debugging or managing the application within the container.

-T

Disable pseudo-TTY allocation.

SERVICE COMMAND

Specify the service and command to be executed.