---
title: Common challenges and questions
description: Explore common challenges and questions related to Docker Compose.
weight: 30
---

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### Do I need to maintain a separate Compose file for my development, testing, and staging environments?

You don't necessarily need to maintain entirely separate Compose files for your
development, testing, and staging environments. You can define all your
services in a single Compose file (`compose.yaml`). You can use profiles to
group service configurations specific to each environment (`dev`, `test`,
`staging`).

When you need to spin up an environment, you can activate the corresponding
profiles. For example, to set up the development environment:

```console
$ docker compose --profile dev up
```

This command starts only the services associated with the `dev` profile,
leaving the rest inactive.

For more information on using profiles, see [Using profiles with
Compose](/compose/how-tos/profiles/).

### How can I enforce the database service to start up before the frontend service?

Docker Compose ensures services start in a specific order by using the
`depends_on` property. This tells Compose to start the database service before
even attempting to launch the frontend service. This is crucial since
applications often rely on databases being ready for connections.

However, `depends_on` only guarantees the order, not that the database is fully
initialized. For a more robust approach, especially if your application relies
on a prepared database (e.g., after migrations), consider [health
checks](/reference/compose-file/services.md#healthcheck). Here, you can
configure the frontend to wait until the database passes its health check
before starting. This ensures the database is not only up but also ready to
handle requests.

For more information on setting the startup order of your services, see
[Control startup and shutdown order in Compose](/compose/how-tos/startup-order/).

### Can I use Compose to build a Docker image?

Yes, you can use Docker Compose to build Docker images. Docker Compose is a
tool for defining and running multi-container applications. Even if your
application isn't a multi-container application, Docker Compose can make it
easier to run by defining all the `docker run` options in a file.

To use Compose, you need a `compose.yaml` file. In this file, you can specify
the build context and Dockerfile for each service. When you run the command
`docker compose up --build`, Docker Compose will build the images for each
service and then start the containers.

For more information on building Docker images using Compose, see the [Compose
Build Specification](/compose/compose-file/build/).

### What is the difference between Docker Compose and Dockerfile?

A Dockerfile provides instructions to build a container image while a Compose
file defines your running containers. Quite often, a Compose file references a
Dockerfile to build an image to use for a particular service.

### What is the difference between the `docker compose up` and `docker compose run` commands?

The `docker compose up` command creates and starts all your services. It's
perfect for launching your development environment or running the entire
application. The `docker compose run` command focuses on individual services.
It starts a specified service along with its dependencies, allowing you to run
tests or perform one-off tasks within that container.

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