84 engineers on Hacker News describe using Docker Compose first-hand: 30 endorse it, 6 regret it, 3 are mixed.
“I've used basically the same docker compose setup for all my projects that aren't large distributed systems in the last 10 years.”
endorse · personal · 10 yr · steezeburger · 2026-10-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Deployment is two steps: 1. git clone foo 2. docker compose up -d”
endorse · production · bityard · 2026-05-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have had dozens of projects where we replaced flaky slow and maintenance heavy pipelines with just docker compose up --build --wait”
endorse · production · theK · 2026-05-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“docker compose files are weird blobs of YAML that I have to hunt down the location of or parse their under-specced labels”
regret · production · stryan · 2026-05-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“having a local stack easily spun up via docker compose is nice”
endorse · personal · sovietmudkipz · 2025-12-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Our Docker Compose local dev setup started to break down once we had to model more complicated production behavior locally”
regret · production · 18nleung · 2025-10-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we run with the same database in a local Docker container with Docker Compose and it is fast and isolated/resettable.”
endorse · production · lbriner · 2024-12-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I actually love docker-compose for my personal stuff.”
endorse · personal · Dedime · 2024-12-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've seen both Docker Compose and Docker Swarm be used in production with good results”
endorse · production · KronisLV · 2024-11-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We run large, auto scaling clusters with compose and a small orchestration thing we have been using since the 90s. No issues.”
endorse · production · anonzzzies · 2024-11-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“This has the added benefit of ensuring that developers don't interfere with each other during development.”
endorse · production · pards · 2024-10-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we switched our dev environment from Docker Compose to Nix on those same MacBooks and CPU usage when from 300% to <10% overnight.”
regret · production · JasonSage · 2024-08-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“There are fully loaded compose ones that include everything so you don’t need to add anything. It’s lovely.”
endorse · production · anonzzzies · 2024-05-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We like to approximate this locally with docker compose. This helps eliminate things like forgetting to update pyproject.toml.”
endorse · production · ytjohn · 2022-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Once we switched to a common source controlled docker-compose file all those problems simply went away.”
endorse · production · jelled · 2022-10-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Docker compose is also a bewildering mess of conflicting versions and baffling decisions. With incredibly poor documentation.”
regret · personal · deckard1 · 2022-06-22 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have things split out where the Webpack dev server runs in its own container only in development. It uses the Docker Compose override pattern”
endorse · production · nickjj · 2021-12-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“docker compose definitely got us here. Highly recommended.”
endorse · production · sethammons · 2021-11-09 · source ↗ · wrong label?“it ended up a weird snowflake or with duplicate processes, and we replaced it with something more standard.”
regret · production · 0xbadcafebee · 2021-06-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“run a very basic script that basically just ran "docker-compose pull; docker-compose up".”
endorse · production · kemitche · 2021-05-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we use it because we love it... Docker compose satisfies all our needs and I think it's a beautifully designed UX and reliable piece of software in its current form.”
endorse · production · nikisweeting · 2020-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I'm plenty happy using Docker Compose in production and foresee myself continuing to use it as long as Docker maintains it.”
endorse · production · nickjj · 2020-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we've been running Docker Compose in production for years and love it. It's massively simplified our production environment”
endorse · production · nikisweeting · 2020-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“spin it up w/ docker-compose in a single command”
endorse · production · malwrar · 2020-08-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the last three places I've worked all used Docker Compose to run the local development environment”
endorse · production · Rodeoclash · 2019-10-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“With docker compose I have almost forgotten everything but docker-compose build && docker-compose compose up”
endorse · personal · xrd · 2018-12-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“docker compose is a fairly simple way to handle this without managing global installations on a dev machine... this approach yields the fewest frustrations”
endorse · personal · bschwindHN · 2017-11-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“don't have to deal with the myriad of issues that arise with docker-compose and "custom networks"”
regret · production · mschuster91 · 2017-10-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We switched from a Vagrant based workflow, to a docker-compose one”
endorse · production · bdcravens · 2017-10-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Docker-compose makes it easy to pull 3rd party deps that just work”
endorse · production · arekkas · 2017-04-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The docker-compose tool is great but it doesn't go far enough and doesn't provide enough structure.”
mixed · production · ekidd · 2016-11-11 · source ↗ · wrong label?“docker-compose is great for local development, but we've learned to be very cautious about introducing it (Docker) for anything production based.”
endorse · production · scaryclam · 2016-11-11 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Compose works fine for local dev orchestration but pattern doesn't work for deployment.”
mixed · personal · eggie5 · 2016-11-11 · source ↗ · wrong label?“if you are a developer you should add Docker + Docker Compose to you working tools.”
endorse · production · sztwiorok · 2016-10-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Both in dev and prod we simply use docker-compose up.”
endorse · production · haffla · 2016-06-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We've moved to Docker Compose for local Python (Django) development.”
endorse · production · actionscripted · 2016-03-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“With Composer I feel the basic functionality is finally in place it needs time to mature.”
mixed · production · xorcist · 2015-07-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Yes, docker-compose (https://docs.docker.com/compose/) is just great.”
endorse · personal · johannesboyne · 2015-07-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have been using it for Node.js development for the past few months and it is really a life changer”
endorse · personal · 0.25 yr · olalonde · 2015-07-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I was using it at work and had designed some clean helm charts so just used them at home.”
neutral · production · steezeburger · 2026-10-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“pointing it at our docker-compose.yml. Zero changes needed”
neutral · production · cdmckay · 2026-07-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Is using Docker/Compose "just" as the layer for installing & managing runtime environment and services correct?”
neutral · production · TheCapeGreek · 2026-05-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been running this in prod self hosted for around 6 months (podman with docker compose, minio for s3, streaming with pulsar).”
neutral · production · 0.5 yr · pjp1981 · 2025-07-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The configuration of Traefik, in our case, embedded in the docker-compose file was not clear.”
neutral · production · engine_y · 2025-02-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use Docker Compose for our dev environment”
neutral · production · jensenbox · 2024-12-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“so in production you just have to use `docker compose up`”
neutral · production · number6 · 2024-11-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“My setup is a digital ocean box with docker compose scripts and watchtower for deploys.”
neutral · production · distortionfield · 2024-06-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use docker-compose inside our builders for dev dependencies”
neutral · production · maccard · 2024-05-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“runs using Docker Compose on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS”
neutral · personal · stackskipton · 2024-05-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Raspberry pi os (debian) with everything defined in a docker compose file.”
neutral · personal · efxhoy · 2023-12-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I haven't figured the best way to auto-deploy each service's compose file to the server”
neutral · production · ripperdoc · 2023-10-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we're running some stuff via docker-compose files. here's my personal docker-compose stack”
neutral · personal · igor47 · 2023-08-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“docker compose commands are not available anymore”
neutral · production · xiekomb · 2023-06-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“In development we use docker-compose and in prod we use Nomad.”
neutral · production · chatmasta · 2023-03-20 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I do this, but just with straight docker compose.”
neutral · personal · layoric · 2022-12-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“whereas docker doesn't complain for the same compose file”
neutral · production · Arbortheus · 2022-12-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I use docker compose in production, for a bunch of services that run on a single machine”
neutral · production · maxbaines · 2022-12-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“At most docker compose, but k8s: never again.”
neutral · personal · vander_elst · 2021-12-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we have docker compose spin up our service(s) and its dependencies.”
neutral · production · sethammons · 2021-09-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Locally, docker compose will spin up N mysql instances and relevant services under test.”
neutral · production · sethammons · 2021-09-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“They almost always eventually use compose to run stuff in prod at some point”
neutral · production · hamiltont · 2021-08-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Postgresql, Redis and Docker Compose.”
neutral · production · pinepage · 2021-08-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Complementary tools and technologies: Docker, docker-compose, Docker Swarm in prod”
neutral · production · cygned · 2021-04-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we use VSCode with devContainers (docker-compose local dev env)”
neutral · production · majodev · 2021-03-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We switched over to Garden a year ago from a local docker-compose setup for dev.”
neutral · production · qeternity · 2021-03-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We switched our developer environment to k8s instead of docker-compose and our lives improved dramatically.”
neutral · production · sontek · 2021-02-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“developers were increasingly running their own containers with docker-compose to test services”
neutral · production · jacobr1 · 2021-01-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“you use regular Compose files, with a few enhancements available (such as better support for secrets)”
neutral · production · GordonS · 2020-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“inside VM we run docker and docker-compose.”
neutral · personal · mtasic · 2020-11-09 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the runtimes are each in their own container, connected by docker-compose.”
neutral · production · michelledepeil · 2020-08-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we have a makefile, a Dockerfile, a docker-compose file, go.mod and go.sum”
neutral · production · sethammons · 2020-08-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I also spread env vars in two config files: docker-compose.persistent.yml for persistent deployments”
neutral · production · 1337shadow · 2020-04-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use docker compose to stand up our micro services.”
neutral · production · ldoughty · 2019-12-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“apart from increasing the version number in the Docker Compose file there's 0 maintenance”
neutral · personal · dewey · 2019-08-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Sworm for orchestrations and compose for local.”
neutral · production · majkinetor · 2019-05-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“production/dev setup with Docker and docker-compose”
neutral · production · apeacox · 2018-12-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We have clients using ... using just Docker Compose (no Swarm) on virtualized and bare metal machines”
neutral · production · spectre256 · 2018-11-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Most of the time we run these containers with docker-compose locally”
neutral · production · VonGallifrey · 2018-10-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Our entire infrastructure can be brought up in development with a single docker-compose file”
neutral · production · adamrt · 2018-07-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“send them the instructions for installing Docker and docker-compose and then having a working dev environment on their local device an hour after they open their computer”
neutral · production · trowawee · 2018-06-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“connect all of the dependencies together with Docker-compose. We don't "develop" inside docker”
neutral · production · dkersten · 2017-05-15 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We are using docker with docker compose on a legacy vmware stack in a corporate environment.”
neutral · production · flavioaiello · 2016-06-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we run our tests with docker-compose, if they pass we push them to our existing registry.”
neutral · production · mikewhy · 2016-05-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“which is easy to manage with docker-compose, Ansible, etc.”
neutral · production · viktorbenei · 2015-07-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?