docker-compose up

Relax. We'll talk through this in plain words — no textbook voice.

docker-compose.yml lives in the folder where you'll run Compose commands. Use these commands to start or stop your entire development stack.

dockerfile

# Start all services in the background
docker compose up -d

# View running services
docker compose ps

# View logs
docker compose logs -f

# Stop and remove the stack
docker compose down

up -d runs all the services in the background. ps checks service status, logs -f shows real-time logs, down stops the stack and removes the network and containers.

You should see

The Nginx and Redis containers will be running, and you'll see their service status in docker compose ps.

Info

If you also want to delete the volumes, docker compose down -v will do it. Just be careful — this also deletes your database data.

Easy traps

Run a Compose command from the wrong folder, and it won't find the compose file. Run it from the project root where docker-compose.yml lives.