How to Install and Use Docker Compose on Debian 13 (Trixie)

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Docker Compose is a tool that lets you define and run multi-container Docker applications using a simple YAML file.

Prerequisites

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• Docker must already be installed and running.
  (If not, see how to install Docker on Debian 13)

Check Docker Compose Plugin Availability

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Docker Compose v2 is installed as a plugin by default when you install Docker via Docker’s APT repository.

Check if it's already available:

docker compose version

If this shows a version (e.g., Docker Compose version v2.24.0), you're done!

(Alternative) Install Docker Compose Manually

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If needed, install manually:

mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins/
curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.24.0/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 \
  -o ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

Verify:

docker compose version

Create a Docker Compose YAML File

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Create a directory for your project:

mkdir myapp && cd myapp

Create a docker-compose.yml file:

nano docker-compose.yml

Example content for a simple Nginx container:

version: '3.8'

services:
  web:
    image: nginx:latest
    ports:
      - "80:80"

Start the Application

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Start the containers in detached mode:

docker compose up -d

List running services:

docker compose ps

To see logs:

docker compose logs

Stop the services:

docker compose down

Autocomplete (Optional)

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Enable bash completion:

curl -SL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/docker/compose/cli-plugin-main/contrib/completion/bash/docker-compose \
  -o /etc/bash_completion.d/docker-compose

Then reload your shell or run:

source /etc/bash_completion.d/docker-compose

Conclusion

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You now have Docker Compose installed and ready on Debian 13.
You can manage multi-container apps easily using a single YAML file.