docker-compose

Best Practices

• Use named volumes for persistent data
• Define health checks for all services
• Set resource limits (deploy.resources) for production
• Use environment files (.env) for configuration
• Define explicit networks for service isolation
• Pin image versions (never use :latest in production)
• Use depends_on with condition for service ordering
• Never hardcode production secrets in compose files (use .env or Docker secrets)
• Use profiles for optional services (debug tools, admin UIs)
• Set restart policy (unless-stopped or on-failure) for production services
• Use build context with Dockerfile for local development services

Documentation Sources