A typical detached run
The -d does not carry across, and a restart policy is added
docker run -d --name web -p 8080:80 -e NODE_ENV=production -v /srv/data:/data nginx:alpine
Docker Run to Compose Converter
Turn a long docker run into a service definition. Some of what you typed describes how you were running the command rather than what the service is, and that part does not carry across.
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Examples
Real input you can load into the tool above. Each one shows a different thing going wrong, because that is what the tool is for.
A credential on the command line
Transient in shell history, permanent in a committed file
docker run -d --name api -e API_KEY=REPLACE_ME myapp:1
A privileged container
Carries across, and converting is a good moment to find out what it actually needed
docker run --privileged --name agent myagent:1
Common mistakes
These are the ones that fail silently. The config is accepted, nothing raises an error, and the consequence arrives later.
Carrying -it and --rm into the compose file
They describe the invocation. --rm has no equivalent, and stdin_open with tty on an ordinary service is noise that occasionally changes behaviour.
Instead:Drop them. Use docker compose up -d to detach.
Leaving the service with no restart policy
docker run defaults to no restart, so a compose service converted verbatim stays down after any exit or reboot.
Instead:Add restart: unless-stopped unless it really is a one-off.
Pasting -e values straight into the file
A value that lived in shell history is now committed and shared with everyone who has the repository.
Instead:Use environment: ['API_KEY=${API_KEY}'] with a gitignored .env, or env_file.
A compose file describes a service, not an invocation
--rm, -d and -it are all about the command you typed. None of them belongs in a file that describes what a service is, and one of them has no equivalent at all.
What does not carry across
--rm has no compose equivalent. -d is docker compose up -d, a property of how you start the stack. -it maps to stdin_open and tty, which are only meaningful for a service you deliberately attach to, and setting them on a normal service is noise.
A restart policy is worth adding
docker run defaults to no restart, which is right for a one-off command and wrong for a service in a file somebody will bring up and walk away from. unless-stopped survives a reboot and respects a deliberate stop, which is what most people mean.
--link is deprecated and unnecessary
Services on the same compose network resolve each other by service name through Docker's embedded DNS, which is what --link approximated. The links key exists in the compose spec and is deprecated there too.
network_mode is not a compose network
It attaches to something that already exists and is incompatible with the networks key and with links. Compose creates a network per project and puts every service on it, which is why most compose files have no network configuration at all.
A credential on a command line becomes a credential in a file
-e API_KEY=... was transient in shell history. In a compose file it is committed and shared. Reference it instead, with the value in a gitignored .env, or use env_file.
Relative paths change meaning
docker run resolves a relative volume path against your current directory. Compose resolves it against the compose file's directory, so the same string can point somewhere else once converted.
Related docker tools
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