community.docker.docker_compose module – Manage multi-container Docker applications with Docker Compose V1

Note

This module is part of the community.docker collection (version 3.8.1).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.docker. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.docker.docker_compose.

Synopsis

  • Uses Docker Compose to start, shutdown and scale services. This module requires docker-compose < 2.0.0. Use the community.docker.docker_compose_v2 module for using the modern Docker compose CLI plugin.

  • Configuration can be read from a docker-compose.yml or docker-compose.yaml file or inline using the definition option.

  • See the examples for more details.

  • Supports check mode.

  • This module was called docker_service before Ansible 2.8. The usage did not change.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • Docker API >= 1.25

  • Docker SDK for Python: Please note that the docker-py Python module has been superseded by docker (see here for details). Note that both modules should *not* be installed at the same time. Also note that when both modules are installed and one of them is uninstalled, the other might no longer function and a reinstall of it is required.

  • Docker SDK for Python >= 1.8.0, < 7. Docker SDK for Python 7+ is incompatible to docker-compose v1.

  • PyYAML >= 3.11

  • docker-compose >= 1.7.0, < 2.0.0

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

api_version

aliases: docker_api_version

string

The version of the Docker API running on the Docker Host.

Defaults to the latest version of the API supported by Docker SDK for Python and the docker daemon.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable DOCKER_API_VERSION will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

Default: "auto"

build

boolean

Use with state=present to always build images prior to starting the application.

Same as running docker-compose build with the pull option.

Images will only be rebuilt if Docker detects a change in the Dockerfile or build directory contents.

Use the nocache option to ignore the image cache when performing the build.

If an existing image is replaced, services using the image will be recreated unless recreate=never.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

ca_path

aliases: ca_cert, tls_ca_cert, cacert_path

path

Use a CA certificate when performing server verification by providing the path to a CA certificate file.

If the value is not specified in the task and the environment variable DOCKER_CERT_PATH is set, the file ca.pem from the directory specified in the environment variable DOCKER_CERT_PATH will be used.

This option was called ca_cert and got renamed to ca_path in community.docker 3.6.0. The old name has been added as an alias and can still be used.

client_cert

aliases: tls_client_cert, cert_path

path

Path to the client’s TLS certificate file.

If the value is not specified in the task and the environment variable DOCKER_CERT_PATH is set, the file cert.pem from the directory specified in the environment variable DOCKER_CERT_PATH will be used.

client_key

aliases: tls_client_key, key_path

path

Path to the client’s TLS key file.

If the value is not specified in the task and the environment variable DOCKER_CERT_PATH is set, the file key.pem from the directory specified in the environment variable DOCKER_CERT_PATH will be used.

debug

boolean

Debug mode

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

definition

dictionary

Compose file describing one or more services, networks and volumes.

Mutually exclusive with project_src and files.

dependencies

boolean

When state is present specify whether or not to include linked services.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

docker_host

aliases: docker_url

string

The URL or Unix socket path used to connect to the Docker API. To connect to a remote host, provide the TCP connection string. For example, tcp://192.0.2.23:2376. If TLS is used to encrypt the connection, the module will automatically replace tcp in the connection URL with https.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable DOCKER_HOST will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

Default: "unix:///var/run/docker.sock"

env_file

path

added in community.docker 1.9.0

By default environment files are loaded from a .env file located directly under the project_src directory.

env_file can be used to specify the path of a custom environment file instead.

The path is relative to the project_src directory.

Requires docker-compose version 1.25.0 or greater.

Note: docker-compose versions <=1.28 load the env file from the current working directory of the docker-compose command rather than project_src.

files

list / elements=path

List of Compose file names relative to project_src. Overrides docker-compose.yml or docker-compose.yaml.

Files are loaded and merged in the order given.

hostname_check

boolean

Whether or not to check the Docker daemon’s hostname against the name provided in the client certificate.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

nocache

boolean

Use with the build option to ignore the cache during the image build process.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

profiles

list / elements=string

added in community.docker 1.8.0

List of profiles to enable when starting services.

Equivalent to docker-compose --profile.

Requires docker-compose version 1.28.0 or greater.

project_name

string

Provide a project name. If not provided, the project name is taken from the basename of project_src.

Required when definition is provided.

project_src

path

Path to a directory containing a docker-compose.yml or docker-compose.yaml file.

Mutually exclusive with definition.

Required when no definition is provided.

pull

boolean

Use with state=present to always pull images prior to starting the application.

Same as running docker-compose pull.

When a new image is pulled, services using the image will be recreated unless recreate=never.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

recreate

string

By default containers will be recreated when their configuration differs from the service definition.

Setting to never ignores configuration differences and leaves existing containers unchanged.

Setting to always forces recreation of all existing containers.

Choices:

  • "always"

  • "never"

  • "smart" ← (default)

remove_images

string

Use with state=absent to remove all images or only local images.

Choices:

  • "all"

  • "local"

remove_orphans

boolean

Remove containers for services not defined in the Compose file.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

remove_volumes

boolean

Use with state=absent to remove data volumes.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

restarted

boolean

Use with state=present to restart all containers defined in the Compose file.

If services is defined, only the containers listed there will be restarted.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

scale

dictionary

When state is present scale services. Provide a dictionary of key/value pairs where the key is the name of the service and the value is an integer count for the number of containers.

services

list / elements=string

When state is present run docker-compose up resp. docker-compose stop (with stopped=true) resp. docker-compose restart (with restarted=true) on a subset of services.

If empty, which is the default, the operation will be performed on all services defined in the Compose file (or inline definition).

ssl_version

string

Provide a valid SSL version number. Default value determined by SSL Python module.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable DOCKER_SSL_VERSION will be used instead.

Note: this option is no longer supported for Docker SDK for Python 7.0.0+. Specifying it with Docker SDK for Python 7.0.0 or newer will lead to an error.

state

string

Desired state of the project.

Specifying present is the same as running docker-compose up resp. docker-compose stop (with stopped=true) resp. docker-compose restart (with restarted=true).

Specifying absent is the same as running docker-compose down.

Choices:

  • "absent"

  • "present" ← (default)

stopped

boolean

Use with state=present to stop all containers defined in the Compose file.

If services is defined, only the containers listed there will be stopped.

Requires docker-compose version 1.17.0 or greater for full support. For older versions, the services will first be started and then stopped when the service is supposed to be created as stopped.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

timeout

integer

Timeout in seconds for container shutdown when attached or when containers are already running.

By default docker-compose will use a 10 seconds timeout unless default_grace_period is defined for a particular service in the project_src.

tls

boolean

Secure the connection to the API by using TLS without verifying the authenticity of the Docker host server. Note that if validate_certs is set to true as well, it will take precedence.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable DOCKER_TLS will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

tls_hostname

string

When verifying the authenticity of the Docker Host server, provide the expected name of the server.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable DOCKER_TLS_HOSTNAME will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

Note that this option had a default value localhost in older versions. It was removed in community.docker 3.0.0.

Note: this option is no longer supported for Docker SDK for Python 7.0.0+. Specifying it with Docker SDK for Python 7.0.0 or newer will lead to an error.

use_ssh_client

boolean

added in community.docker 1.5.0

Currently ignored for this module, but might suddenly be supported later on.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

validate_certs

aliases: tls_verify

boolean

Secure the connection to the API by using TLS and verifying the authenticity of the Docker host server.

If the value is not specified in the task, the value of environment variable DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY will be used instead. If the environment variable is not set, the default value will be used.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

Attributes

Attribute

Support

Description

action_group

Action groups: community.docker.docker, docker

Use group/docker or group/community.docker.docker in module_defaults to set defaults for this module.

check_mode

Support: full

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target.

diff_mode

Support: none

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode.

Notes

Note

  • Connect to the Docker daemon by providing parameters with each task or by defining environment variables. You can define DOCKER_HOST, DOCKER_TLS_HOSTNAME, DOCKER_API_VERSION, DOCKER_CERT_PATH, DOCKER_SSL_VERSION, DOCKER_TLS, DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY and DOCKER_TIMEOUT. If you are using docker machine, run the script shipped with the product that sets up the environment. It will set these variables for you. See https://docs.docker.com/machine/reference/env/ for more details.

  • When connecting to Docker daemon with TLS, you might need to install additional Python packages. For the Docker SDK for Python, version 2.4 or newer, this can be done by installing docker[tls] with ansible.builtin.pip.

  • Note that the Docker SDK for Python only allows to specify the path to the Docker configuration for very few functions. In general, it will use $HOME/.docker/config.json if the DOCKER_CONFIG environment variable is not specified, and use $DOCKER_CONFIG/config.json otherwise.

  • This module uses the Docker SDK for Python to communicate with the Docker daemon.

See Also

See also

community.docker.docker_compose_v2

Manage multi-container Docker applications with Docker Compose CLI plugin.

Examples

# Examples use the django example at https://docs.docker.com/compose/django. Follow it to create the
# flask directory

- name: Run using a project directory
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Tear down existing services
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        state: absent

    - name: Create and start services
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

    - name: Run `docker-compose up` again
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        build: false
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

    - ansible.builtin.assert:
        that: not output.changed

    - name: Stop all services
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        build: false
        stopped: true
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

    - name: Verify that web and db services are not running
      ansible.builtin.assert:
        that:
          - "not output.services.web.flask_web_1.state.running"
          - "not output.services.db.flask_db_1.state.running"

    - name: Restart services
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        build: false
        restarted: true
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

    - name: Verify that web and db services are running
      ansible.builtin.assert:
        that:
          - "output.services.web.flask_web_1.state.running"
          - "output.services.db.flask_db_1.state.running"

- name: Scale the web service to 2
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Scale the web service to two instances
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        scale:
          web: 2
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

- name: Run with inline Compose file version 2
  # https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/compose-file-v2/
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Remove flask project
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        state: absent

    - name: Start flask project with inline definition
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_name: flask
        definition:
          version: '2'
          services:
            db:
              image: postgres
            web:
              build: "{{ playbook_dir }}/flask"
              command: "python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
              volumes:
                - "{{ playbook_dir }}/flask:/code"
              ports:
                - "8000:8000"
              depends_on:
                - db
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

    - name: Verify that the db and web services are running
      ansible.builtin.assert:
        that:
          - "output.services.web.flask_web_1.state.running"
          - "output.services.db.flask_db_1.state.running"

- name: Run with inline Compose file version 1
  # https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/compose-file-v1/
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Remove flask project
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_src: flask
        state: absent

    - name: Start flask project with inline definition
      community.docker.docker_compose:
        project_name: flask
        definition:
            db:
              image: postgres
            web:
              build: "{{ playbook_dir }}/flask"
              command: "python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
              volumes:
                - "{{ playbook_dir }}/flask:/code"
              ports:
                - "8000:8000"
              links:
                - db
      register: output

    - name: Show results
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        var: output

    - name: Verify that web and db services are running
      ansible.builtin.assert:
        that:
          - "output.services.web.flask_web_1.state.running"
          - "output.services.db.flask_db_1.state.running"

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

actions

complex

Provides the actions to be taken on each service as determined by compose.

Returned: when in check mode or debug=true

service_name

complex

Name of the service.

Returned: always

action

list / elements=string

A descriptive name of the action to be performed on the service’s containers.

Returned: always

id

string

the container’s long ID

Returned: always

name

string

the container’s name

Returned: always

short_id

string

the container’s short ID

Returned: always

built_image

complex

Provides image details when a new image is built for the service.

Returned: on image build

id

string

image hash

Returned: always

name

string

name of the image

Returned: always

pulled_image

complex

Provides image details when a new image is pulled for the service.

Returned: on image pull

id

string

image hash

Returned: always

name

string

name of the image

Returned: always

services

complex

A dictionary mapping the service’s name to a dictionary of containers.

Returned: success

container_name

complex

Name of the container. Format is project_service_#.

Returned: success

cmd

list / elements=string

One or more commands to be executed in the container.

Returned: success

Sample: ["postgres"]

image

string

Name of the image from which the container was built.

Returned: success

Sample: "postgres"

labels

dictionary

Meta data assigned to the container.

Returned: success

Sample: {"...": null}

networks

list / elements=dictionary

Contains a dictionary for each network to which the container is a member.

Returned: success

aliases

list / elements=string

Aliases assigned to the container by the network.

Returned: success

Sample: ["db"]

globalIPv6

string

IPv6 address assigned to the container.

Returned: success

Sample: ""

globalIPv6PrefixLen

integer

IPv6 subnet length.

Returned: success

Sample: 0

IPAddress

string

The IP address assigned to the container.

Returned: success

Sample: "172.17.0.2"

IPPrefixLen

integer

Number of bits used by the subnet.

Returned: success

Sample: 16

list / elements=string

List of container names to which this container is linked.

Returned: success

macAddress

string

Mac Address assigned to the virtual NIC.

Returned: success

Sample: "02:42:ac:11:00:02"

state

dictionary

Information regarding the current disposition of the container.

Returned: success

running

boolean

Whether or not the container is up with a running process.

Returned: success

Sample: true

status

string

Description of the running state.

Returned: success

Sample: "running"

Authors

  • Chris Houseknecht (@chouseknecht)