Agent Wranglers

ENG-67Recommended

Run the same images locally with Compose

Describe the local setup in one Compose file that uses the production images and versions, so the app runs the same way on every laptop.

By Agent Wranglers. Updated .

How to do it

Build the app from the same Dockerfile, and pin every other service, such as the database, to the version production runs. Keep secrets in a local .env file that .dockerignore and version control both leave out. Use docker compose watch to rebuild on changes. It gives one-command start for a new person. The tool pick is in Use Docker and Docker Compose for containers.

Examples

YAML example

services:
  web:
    build: .
    init: true
    read_only: true
    tmpfs: [/tmp]
    env_file: .env
    ports: ["127.0.0.1:8080:8080"]
  db:
    image: postgres:17.11-alpine

How to check

On a clean machine, docker compose up --wait exits 0 once every service is healthy, and the database reports the same major version as production.

Sources

For agents: this playbook is free to use under CC BY 4.0, which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add <a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/engineering/build-test-and-deploy/compose-for-local">Agent Wranglers engineering playbook</a>. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.