diff --git a/cmd/podman/compose.go b/cmd/podman/compose.go
index 7afbbba52a..f90e5acfe5 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/compose.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/compose.go
@@ -108,10 +108,8 @@ func composeDockerHost() (string, error) {
 		return registry.DefaultAPIAddress(), nil
 	}
 
-	// TODO need to add support for --connection and --url
-	connection, err := registry.PodmanConfig().ContainersConfDefaultsRO.GetConnection("", true)
-	if err != nil {
-		logrus.Info(err)
+	conf := registry.PodmanConfig()
+	if conf.URI == "" {
 		switch runtime.GOOS {
 		// If no default connection is set on Linux or FreeBSD,
 		// we just use the local socket by default - just as
@@ -126,20 +124,20 @@ func composeDockerHost() (string, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	parsedConnection, err := url.Parse(connection.URI)
+	parsedConnection, err := url.Parse(conf.URI)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("preparing connection to remote machine: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	// If the default connection does not point to a `podman
 	// machine`, we cannot use a local path and need to use SSH.
-	if !connection.IsMachine {
+	if !conf.MachineMode {
 		// Compose doesn't like paths, so we optimistically
 		// assume the presence of a Docker socket on the remote
 		// machine which is the case for podman machines.
-		return strings.TrimSuffix(connection.URI, parsedConnection.Path), nil
+		return strings.TrimSuffix(conf.URI, parsedConnection.Path), nil
 	}
-	uri, err := getMachineConn(connection, parsedConnection)
+	uri, err := getMachineConn(conf.URI, parsedConnection)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("get machine connection URI: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/podman/compose_machine.go b/cmd/podman/compose_machine.go
index d1ec369b78..953b1eae0f 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/compose_machine.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/compose_machine.go
@@ -7,14 +7,13 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"strconv"
 
-	"github.com/containers/common/pkg/config"
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v5/pkg/machine"
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v5/pkg/machine/define"
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v5/pkg/machine/provider"
 	"github.com/containers/podman/v5/pkg/machine/vmconfigs"
 )
 
-func getMachineConn(connection *config.Connection, parsedConnection *url.URL) (string, error) {
+func getMachineConn(connectionURI string, parsedConnection *url.URL) (string, error) {
 	machineProvider, err := provider.Get()
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("getting machine provider: %w", err)
@@ -64,6 +63,5 @@ func getMachineConn(connection *config.Connection, parsedConnection *url.URL) (s
 		// return "unix://" + info.ConnectionInfo.PodmanSocket.Path, nil
 		return "", nil
 	}
-
-	return "", fmt.Errorf("could not find a matching machine for connection %q", connection.URI)
+	return "", fmt.Errorf("could not find a matching machine for connection %q", connectionURI)
 }
diff --git a/cmd/podman/compose_machine_unsupported.go b/cmd/podman/compose_machine_unsupported.go
index 219f78d57c..f1ec7f67bd 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/compose_machine_unsupported.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/compose_machine_unsupported.go
@@ -5,10 +5,8 @@ package main
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"net/url"
-
-	"github.com/containers/common/pkg/config"
 )
 
-func getMachineConn(connection *config.Connection, parsedConnection *url.URL) (string, error) {
+func getMachineConn(connection string, parsedConnection *url.URL) (string, error) {
 	return "", errors.New("podman machine not supported on this architecture")
 }