compose-patterns-2025

Docker Compose Patterns for Production (2025)

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Docker Compose Patterns for Production (2025)

Overview

This skill documents production-ready Docker Compose patterns and best practices for 2025, based on official Docker documentation and industry standards.

File Format Changes (2025)

IMPORTANT: The version field is now obsolete in Docker Compose v2.42+.

Correct (2025):

services: app: image: myapp:latest

Incorrect (deprecated):

version: '3.8' # DO NOT USE services: app: image: myapp:latest

Multiple Environment Strategy

Pattern: Base + Environment Overrides

compose.yaml (base):

services: app: build: context: ./app dockerfile: Dockerfile environment: - NODE_ENV=production restart: unless-stopped

compose.override.yaml (development - auto-loaded):

services: app: build: target: development volumes: - ./app/src:/app/src:cached environment: - NODE_ENV=development - DEBUG=* ports: - "9229:9229" # Debugger

compose.prod.yaml (production - explicit):

services: app: build: target: production deploy: replicas: 3 resources: limits: cpus: '1' memory: 512M restart_policy: condition: on-failure max_attempts: 3

Usage:

Development (auto-loads compose.override.yaml)

docker compose up

Production

docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.prod.yaml up -d

CI/CD

docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.ci.yaml up --abort-on-container-exit

Environment Variable Management

Pattern: .env Files per Environment

.env.template (committed to git):

Database

DB_HOST=sqlserver DB_PORT=1433 DB_NAME=myapp DB_USER=sa

DB_PASSWORD= (set in actual .env)

Redis

REDIS_HOST=redis REDIS_PORT=6379

REDIS_PASSWORD= (set in actual .env)

Application

NODE_ENV=production LOG_LEVEL=info

.env.dev:

DB_PASSWORD=Dev!Pass123 REDIS_PASSWORD=redis-dev-123 NODE_ENV=development LOG_LEVEL=debug

.env.prod:

DB_PASSWORD=${PROD_DB_PASSWORD} # From CI/CD REDIS_PASSWORD=${PROD_REDIS_PASSWORD} NODE_ENV=production LOG_LEVEL=info

Load specific environment:

docker compose --env-file .env.dev up

Security Patterns

Pattern: Run as Non-Root User

services: app: image: node:20-alpine user: "1000:1000" # UID:GID read_only: true tmpfs: - /tmp - /app/.cache cap_drop: - ALL cap_add: - NET_BIND_SERVICE # Only if binding to ports < 1024 security_opt: - no-new-privileges:true

Create user in Dockerfile:

FROM node:20-alpine

Create app user

RUN addgroup -g 1000 appuser &&
adduser -D -u 1000 -G appuser appuser

Set ownership

WORKDIR /app COPY --chown=appuser:appuser . .

USER appuser

Pattern: Secrets Management

Docker Swarm secrets (production):

services: app: secrets: - db_password - api_key

secrets: db_password: file: ./secrets/db_password.txt api_key: external: true # Managed by Swarm

Access secrets in application:

// Read from /run/secrets/ const fs = require('fs'); const dbPassword = fs.readFileSync('/run/secrets/db_password', 'utf8').trim();

Development alternative (environment):

services: app: environment: - DB_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/db_password

Health Check Patterns

Pattern: Comprehensive Health Checks

HTTP endpoint:

services: web: healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/health"] interval: 30s timeout: 3s retries: 3 start_period: 40s

Database ping:

services: postgres: healthcheck: test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U $$POSTGRES_USER"] interval: 10s timeout: 3s retries: 3

Custom script:

services: app: healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "node", "/app/scripts/healthcheck.js"] interval: 30s timeout: 3s retries: 3 start_period: 40s

healthcheck.js:

const http = require('http');

const options = { hostname: 'localhost', port: 8080, path: '/health', timeout: 2000 };

const req = http.request(options, (res) => { process.exit(res.statusCode === 200 ? 0 : 1); });

req.on('error', () => process.exit(1)); req.on('timeout', () => { req.destroy(); process.exit(1); }); req.end();

Dependency Management

Pattern: Ordered Startup with Conditions

services: web: depends_on: database: condition: service_healthy redis: condition: service_started migration: condition: service_completed_successfully

database: healthcheck: test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready"] interval: 10s

redis: # No health check needed, just wait for start

migration: image: myapp:latest command: npm run migrate restart: "no" # Run once depends_on: database: condition: service_healthy

Network Isolation Patterns

Pattern: Three-Tier Network Architecture

services: nginx: image: nginx:alpine networks: - frontend ports: - "80:80"

api: build: ./api networks: - frontend - backend

database: image: postgres:16-alpine networks: - backend # No frontend access

networks: frontend: driver: bridge backend: driver: bridge internal: true # No external access

Pattern: Service-Specific Networks

services: web-app: networks: - public - app-network

api: networks: - app-network - data-network

postgres: networks: - data-network

redis: networks: - data-network

networks: public: driver: bridge app-network: driver: bridge internal: true data-network: driver: bridge internal: true

Volume Patterns

Pattern: Named Volumes for Persistence

services: database: volumes: - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data # Persistent data - ./init:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d:ro # Init scripts (read-only) - db-logs:/var/log/postgresql # Logs

volumes: db-data: driver: local driver_opts: type: none o: bind device: /mnt/data/postgres # Host path db-logs: driver: local

Pattern: Development Bind Mounts

services: app: volumes: - ./src:/app/src:cached # macOS optimization - /app/node_modules # Don't overwrite installed modules - app-cache:/app/.cache # Named volume for cache

Volume mount options:

  • :ro

  • Read-only

  • :rw

  • Read-write (default)

  • :cached

  • macOS performance optimization (host authoritative)

  • :delegated

  • macOS performance optimization (container authoritative)

  • :z

  • SELinux single container

  • :Z

  • SELinux multi-container

Resource Management Patterns

Pattern: CPU and Memory Limits

services: app: deploy: resources: limits: cpus: '1.0' memory: 512M reservations: cpus: '0.5' memory: 256M

Calculate total resources:

3 app replicas + database + redis

services: app: deploy: replicas: 3 resources: limits: cpus: '0.5' # 3 x 0.5 = 1.5 CPUs memory: 512M # 3 x 512M = 1.5GB

database: deploy: resources: limits: cpus: '2' # 2 CPUs memory: 4G # 4GB

redis: deploy: resources: limits: cpus: '0.5' # 0.5 CPUs memory: 512M # 512MB

Total: 4 CPUs, 6GB RAM minimum

Logging Patterns

Pattern: Centralized Logging

services: app: logging: driver: "json-file" options: max-size: "10m" max-file: "3" compress: "true" labels: "app,environment"

Alternative: Log to stdout/stderr (12-factor):

services: app: logging: driver: "json-file" options: max-size: "10m" max-file: "3"

View logs:

docker compose logs -f app docker compose logs --since 30m app docker compose logs --tail 100 app

Init Container Pattern

Pattern: Database Migration

services: migration: image: myapp:latest command: npm run migrate depends_on: database: condition: service_healthy restart: "no" # Run once networks: - backend

app: image: myapp:latest depends_on: migration: condition: service_completed_successfully networks: - backend

YAML Anchors and Aliases

Pattern: Reusable Configuration

x-common-app-config: &common-app restart: unless-stopped logging: driver: "json-file" options: max-size: "10m" max-file: "3" security_opt: - no-new-privileges:true cap_drop: - ALL cap_add: - NET_BIND_SERVICE

services: app1: <<: *common-app build: ./app1 ports: - "8001:8080"

app2: <<: *common-app build: ./app2 ports: - "8002:8080"

app3: <<: *common-app build: ./app3 ports: - "8003:8080"

Pattern: Environment-Specific Overrides

x-logging: &default-logging driver: "json-file" options: max-size: "10m" max-file: "3"

x-resources: &default-resources limits: cpus: '1' memory: 512M reservations: cpus: '0.5' memory: 256M

services: app: logging: *default-logging deploy: resources: *default-resources

Port Binding Patterns

Pattern: Security-First Port Binding

services:

Public services

web: ports: - "80:8080" - "443:8443"

Development only (localhost binding)

debug: ports: - "127.0.0.1:9229:9229" # Debugger only accessible from host

Environment-based binding

app: ports: - "${DOCKER_WEB_PORT_FORWARD:-127.0.0.1:8000}:8000"

Environment control:

Development (.env.dev)

DOCKER_WEB_PORT_FORWARD=127.0.0.1:8000 # Localhost only

Production (.env.prod)

DOCKER_WEB_PORT_FORWARD=8000 # All interfaces

Restart Policy Patterns

services:

Always restart (production services)

app: restart: always

Restart unless manually stopped (most common)

database: restart: unless-stopped

Never restart (one-time tasks)

migration: restart: "no"

Restart on failure only (with Swarm)

worker: deploy: restart_policy: condition: on-failure delay: 5s max_attempts: 3 window: 120s

Validation and Testing

Pattern: Pre-Deployment Validation

#!/bin/bash set -euo pipefail

echo "Validating Compose syntax..." docker compose config > /dev/null

echo "Building images..." docker compose build

echo "Running security scan..." for service in $(docker compose config --services); do image=$(docker compose config | yq ".services.$service.image") if [ -n "$image" ]; then docker scout cves "$image" || true fi done

echo "Starting services..." docker compose up -d

echo "Checking health..." sleep 10 docker compose ps

echo "Running smoke tests..." curl -f http://localhost:8080/health || exit 1

echo "✓ All checks passed"

Complete Production Example

Modern Compose format (no version field for v2.40+)

x-common-service: &common-service restart: unless-stopped logging: driver: "json-file" options: max-size: "10m" max-file: "3" security_opt: - no-new-privileges:true

services: nginx: <<: *common-service image: nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged:alpine ports: - "80:8080" volumes: - ./nginx/conf.d:/etc/nginx/conf.d:ro networks: - frontend depends_on: api: condition: service_healthy healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "wget", "--quiet", "--tries=1", "--spider", "http://localhost:8080/health"] interval: 30s

api: <<: *common-service build: context: ./api dockerfile: Dockerfile target: production user: "1000:1000" read_only: true tmpfs: - /tmp cap_drop: - ALL cap_add: - NET_BIND_SERVICE networks: - frontend - backend depends_on: migration: condition: service_completed_successfully redis: condition: service_started env_file: - .env healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "node", "healthcheck.js"] interval: 30s start_period: 40s deploy: resources: limits: cpus: '1' memory: 512M

migration: image: myapp:latest command: npm run migrate restart: "no" networks: - backend depends_on: postgres: condition: service_healthy

postgres: <<: *common-service image: postgres:16-alpine environment: - POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/postgres_password secrets: - postgres_password volumes: - postgres-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data networks: - backend healthcheck: test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready"] interval: 10s deploy: resources: limits: cpus: '1' memory: 2G

redis: <<: *common-service image: redis:7.4-alpine command: redis-server --requirepass ${REDIS_PASSWORD} volumes: - redis-data:/data networks: - backend healthcheck: test: ["CMD", "redis-cli", "ping"] interval: 10s

networks: frontend: driver: bridge backend: driver: bridge internal: true

volumes: postgres-data: driver: local redis-data: driver: local

secrets: postgres_password: file: ./secrets/postgres_password.txt

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Using version field - Obsolete in 2025

  • No health checks - Leads to race conditions

  • Running as root - Security risk

  • No resource limits - Can exhaust host resources

  • Hardcoded secrets - Use secrets or environment variables

  • No logging limits - Disk space issues

  • Bind mounts in production - Use named volumes

  • Missing restart policies - Services don't recover

  • No network isolation - All services can talk to each other

  • Not using .dockerignore - Larger build contexts

Troubleshooting Commands

Validate syntax

docker compose config

View merged configuration

docker compose config --services

Check which file is being used

docker compose config --files

View environment interpolation

docker compose config --no-interpolate

Check service dependencies

docker compose config | yq '.services.*.depends_on'

View resource usage

docker stats $(docker compose ps -q)

Debug startup issues

docker compose up --no-deps service-name

Force recreate

docker compose up --force-recreate service-name

References

  • Docker Compose Documentation

  • Compose v2.42+ Release Notes

  • Best Practices

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