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You can run Compose on macOS, Windows, and 64-bit Linux.
Docker Daemon - The background service running on the host that manages building, running and distributing Docker containers. The daemon is the process that runs in the operating system which clients talk to. Docker Client - The command line tool that allows the user to interact with the daemon. More generally, there can be other forms of. If you want to actually run the docker instances on WSL (you’ll get better performance) you should modify this process so that after installing docker on WSL you change the docker socket to use a loopback TCP socket instead of a.nix socket file as WSL currently doesn’t support.nix socket files. Then you can either connect using the windows docker or you can just use it from command line WSL.
Docker Compose relies on Docker Engine for any meaningful work, so make sure youhave Docker Engine installed either locally or remote, depending on your setup.
On desktop systems like Docker Desktop for Mac and Windows, Docker Compose isincluded as part of those desktop installs.
On Linux systems, first install theDocker Enginefor your OS as described on the Get Docker page, then come back here forinstructions on installing Compose onLinux systems.
To run Compose as a non-root user, see Manage Docker as a non-root user.
Follow the instructions below to install Compose on Mac, Windows, Windows Server2016, or Linux systems, or find out about alternatives like using the pip
Python package manager or installing Compose as a container.
Install a different version
The instructions below outline installation of the current stable release(v1.28.6) of Compose. To install a different version ofCompose, replace the given release number with the one that you want. Composereleases are also listed and available for direct download on theCompose repository release page on GitHub.To install a pre-release of Compose, refer to the install pre-release buildssection.
Docker Desktop for Mac includes Compose alongwith other Docker apps, so Mac users do not need to install Compose separately.For installation instructions, see Install Docker Desktop on Mac.
Docker Desktop for Windows includes Composealong with other Docker apps, so most Windows users do not need toinstall Compose separately. For install instructions, see Install Docker Desktop on Windows.
If you are running the Docker daemon and client directly on MicrosoftWindows Server, follow the instructions in the Windows Server tab.
Follow these instructions if you are running the Docker daemon and client directlyon Microsoft Windows Server and want to install Docker Compose.
Start an “elevated” PowerShell (run it as administrator).Search for PowerShell, right-click, and chooseRun as administrator. When asked if you want to allow this appto make changes to your device, click Yes.
In PowerShell, since GitHub now requires TLS1.2, run the following:
Then run the following command to download the current stable release ofCompose (v1.28.6):
Note: On Windows Server 2019, you can add the Compose executable to $Env:ProgramFilesDocker
. Because this directory is registered in the system PATH
, you can run the docker-compose --version
command on the subsequent step with no additional configuration.
Test the installation.
On Linux, you can download the Docker Compose binary from theCompose repository release page on GitHub.Follow the instructions from the link, which involve running the curl
commandin your terminal to download the binaries. These step-by-step instructions arealso included below.
For alpine
, the following dependency packages are needed:py-pip
, python3-dev
, libffi-dev
, openssl-dev
, gcc
, libc-dev
, rust
, cargo
and make
.
Run this command to download the current stable release of Docker Compose:
To install a different version of Compose, substitute
1.28.6
with the version of Compose you want to use.
If you have problems installing with curl
, seeAlternative Install Options tab above.
Apply executable permissions to the binary:
Note: If the command docker-compose
fails after installation, check your path.You can also create a symbolic link to /usr/bin
or any other directory in your path.
For example:
Optionally, install command completion for thebash
and zsh
shell.
Test the installation.
For alpine
, the following dependency packages are needed:py-pip
, python3-dev
, libffi-dev
, openssl-dev
, gcc
, libc-dev
, rust
, cargo
, and make
.
Compose can be installed frompypi using pip
. If you installusing pip
, we recommend that you use avirtualenv because many operatingsystems have python system packages that conflict with docker-composedependencies. See the virtualenvtutorial to getstarted.
If you are not using virtualenv,
pip version 6.0 or greater is required.
Compose can also be run inside a container, from a small bash script wrapper. Toinstall compose as a container run this command:
If you’re interested in trying out a pre-release build, you can download releasecandidates from the Compose repository release page on GitHub.Follow the instructions from the link, which involves running the curl
commandin your terminal to download the binaries.
Pre-releases built from the “master” branch are also available for download athttps://dl.bintray.com/docker-compose/master/.
Pre-release builds allow you to try out new features before they are released,but may be less stable.
If you’re upgrading from Compose 1.2 or earlier, remove ormigrate your existing containers after upgrading Compose. This is because, as ofversion 1.3, Compose uses Docker labels to keep track of containers, and yourcontainers need to be recreated to add the labels.
If Compose detects containers that were created without labels, it refusesto run, so that you don’t end up with two sets of them. If you want to keep usingyour existing containers (for example, because they have data volumes you wantto preserve), you can use Compose 1.5.x to migrate them with the followingcommand:
Alternatively, if you’re not worried about keeping them, you can remove them.Compose just creates new ones.
To uninstall Docker Compose if you installed using curl
:
To uninstall Docker Compose if you installed using pip
:
Got a “Permission denied” error?
If you get a “Permission denied” error using either of the abovemethods, you probably do not have the proper permissions to removedocker-compose
. To force the removal, prepend sudo
to either of the abovecommands and run again.