Install Docker Compose

Install Compose on Windows desktop systems

Docker Desktop for Windows includes Compose along with other Docker apps, so most Windows users do not need to install Compose separately. For install instructions, see Install Docker Desktop on Windows.

If you are running the Docker daemon and client directly on Microsoft Windows Server, follow the instructions in the Windows Server tab.

Install Compose on Windows Server

Follow these instructions if you are running the Docker daemon and client directly on Microsoft Windows Server and want to install Docker Compose.

1. Start an “elevated” PowerShell (run it as administrator). Search for PowerShell, right-click, and choose Run as administrator. When asked if you want to allow this app to make changes to your device, click Yes.

2. In PowerShell, since GitHub now requires TLS1.2, run the following:

   [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
   

   Then run the following command to download the current stable release of Compose (v2.0.0):

   Invoke-WebRequest "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/2.0.0/docker-compose-Windows-x86_64.exe" -UseBasicParsing -OutFile $Env:ProgramFiles\Docker\docker-compose.exe
   

Note: On Windows Server 2019, you can add the Compose executable to $Env:ProgramFiles\Docker. 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.

> To install a different version of Compose, substitute `2.0.0`
> with the version of Compose you want to use.

1. Test the installation.

   docker compose --version
   
   docker compose version 2.0.0, build 01110ad01
   

Install Compose on Linux systems

On supported Linux distributions, you can install Docker Compose using the docker-compose-plugin system package. See Engine installation instruction

Alternatively, you can download the Docker Compose binary from the Compose repository release page on GitHub. Follow the instructions from the link, which involve running the curl command in your terminal to download the binaries. These step-by-step instructions are also included below.

1. Run this command to download the current stable release of Docker Compose:

   $ mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
   $ sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/2.0.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
   

   This command installs Compose V2 for the active user under $HOME directory. To install for all users on your system, replace ~/.docker/cli-plugins by /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins.

2. Apply executable permissions to the binary:

   $ sudo chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
   

3. Test the installation.

   $ docker compose --version
   Docker Compose version 2.0.0
   

Uninstallation

To uninstall Docker Compose if you installed using curl:

$ sudo rm ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

Install pre-release builds

If you’re interested in trying out a pre-release build, you can download release candidates from the Compose repository release page on GitHub. Follow the instructions from the link, which involves running the curl command in your terminal to download the binaries.

Pre-release builds allow you to try out new features before they are released, but may be less stable.