docker compose up: options and common flags

1. Start your services
2. Run in the background
3. Rebuild images first
4. Start only some services
5. Stopping again
6. A note on the command name

#Start your services

Run from the directory containing your compose.yaml (or docker-compose.yml):

docker compose up

This creates and starts every service defined in the file, and streams their logs to your terminal. Press Ctrl+C to stop them.

#Run in the background

Most of the time you want the stack running detached, so your terminal is free:

docker compose up -d

Check what is running and follow the logs separately:

docker compose ps
docker compose logs -f

#Rebuild images first

If you changed a Dockerfile or the build context, force a rebuild before starting:

docker compose up -d --build

To throw away cached containers and recreate them from scratch:

docker compose up -d --force-recreate

#Start only some services

Pass service names to start a subset. Add --no-deps if you do not want its linked services started too:

docker compose up -d web
docker compose up -d --no-deps web

#Stopping again

Ctrl+C stops a foreground up. For a detached stack, bring it down explicitly. down also removes the containers and network; stop just halts them:

docker compose down       # stop and remove containers + network
docker compose stop       # stop but keep the containers

#A note on the command name

Modern Docker uses docker compose (a built-in subcommand, Compose v2). The older standalone tool was docker-compose with a hyphen. If docker compose is not found, you are likely on an old install, upgrade Docker, or fall back to docker-compose.

Once it is up, docker exec lets you run commands inside a running service, and docker prune cleans up afterwards.