Service Configuration

Service Configuration

Configure services for production-ready deployments.

Health Checks

services:
  api:
    image: myapp:latest
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3
      start_period: 40s

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

Restart Policies

services:
  web:
    restart: always    # Always restart

  worker:
    restart: unless-stopped   # Unless manually stopped

  cron:
    restart: on-failure       # Only on failure
    restart: "on-failure:5"   # Max 5 retries

  test:
    restart: "no"             # Never restart (default)

Resource Limits

services:
  api:
    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '0.50'
          memory: 512M
        reservations:
          cpus: '0.25'
          memory: 256M

  # Alternative syntax (older)
  mem_limit: 512m
  cpus: 0.5

Logging Configuration

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

  # Other drivers
  syslog:
    logging:
      driver: syslog
      options:
        syslog-address: "tcp://192.168.1.1:514"

Command and Entrypoint

services:
  api:
    image: node:20
    command: npm run start

  # Override entrypoint
  debug:
    image: myapp
    entrypoint: /bin/sh
    command: -c "echo debugging && exec node app.js"

  # Multiple commands
  worker:
    command: ["sh", "-c", "npm run migrate && npm run worker"]

User and Permissions

services:
  api:
    user: "1000:1000"

  # Or use user name
  app:
    user: node

Labels and Metadata

services:
  api:
    labels:
      - "com.example.description=API Service"
      - "com.example.environment=production"
      # Traefik labels
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.api.rule=Host(`api.example.com`)"

Working Directory

services:
  api:
    working_dir: /app/src

Complete Production Service

services:
  api:
    image: myapi:1.0.0
    container_name: production-api
    hostname: api
    restart: unless-stopped

    ports:
      - "3000:3000"

    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
      - DATABASE_URL=postgres://user:pass@db:5432/app

    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/health"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: '1.0'
          memory: 1G
        reservations:
          cpus: '0.5'
          memory: 512M

    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: "50m"
        max-file: "5"

    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy

    networks:
      - backend
      - frontend

networks:
  backend:
  frontend:

Profiles

services:
  api:
    # Always started

  debug:
    profiles: ["debug"]
    # Only started with: docker compose --profile debug up

  test:
    profiles: ["test"]