#44th of 36 in Backends, databases and hosting
compose
CLI plugin that runs multi-container apps from a compose.yaml file
- Stars
- 38.6k
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Last commit
- Oct 2026
- Last release
- Oct 2026
- Language
- Go
36,941 on 10 Apr 202638,555 on 30 Oct 2026
From GitHub's daily star counts.
Checked on GitHub.
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Overview
Docker Compose is a Go-based Docker CLI plugin that reads a compose.yaml, following the Compose specification, and starts the defined services with `docker compose up`. It is not AI-specific; it is the general tool many self-hosted AI projects use to run their stacks. It ships bundled with Docker Desktop on Windows and macOS, and as release binaries for Linux.
Who it is for: Developers and self-hosters running multi-container stacks on Docker
Ranked among open-source alternatives to Firebase (#4 of 10), Vercel (#4 of 10) and Heroku (#4 of 10).
Strengths
- One command, `docker compose up`, builds and starts all services in a file
- Implements the open Compose specification, so files are portable between tools
- Included in Docker Desktop; Linux install is a single binary in cli-plugins
- Written in Go, with CI, Codecov and OpenSSF Scorecard badges in the README
Weaknesses
- Not an AI project; no model, GPU or LLM features described in the README
- Requires a Docker engine to run containers
- Some Compose features are unavailable to Docker Swarm users, per the README
- README gives little detail beyond install and a short example; features are in external docs
What it needs
- no GPU
- Docker
- Needs Docker Engine or Docker Desktop
Quick answers
Is compose open source?
Yes. Its code is on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 license.
Can you run compose with Docker?
Yes. Its repository has a Docker setup: a Dockerfile, a Compose file or a published image.
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