Does App Platform support a Compose file for mulit-container apps?

Posted on June 10, 2025

Can I run a Docker Compose application on Digital Ocean App Platform?

Specifically mine is multi-container application, which I run locally with a Docker Compose file. Does App platform have a Compose file option I can use?

If not, how can I run a multi-container app on App Platform?

Thank you.

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Bobby Iliev

June 10, 2025

Hey Chris,

Docker Compose is great for local dev environments where you’re spinning up multiple containers quickly, but for production, including the App Platform, you probably don’t want to use a docker-compose.yml file directly.

App Platform is built on top of Kubernetes, and it handles things differently. Instead of Compose, you define your app structure using an app spec file (app.yaml). This lets you declare each service or container as a separate component in your app.

You can still absolutely run a multi-container app, you just split the services into components and define how they work together. It’s flexible, and App Platform takes care of the networking and scaling.

Here’s how to manage components: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/how-to/manage-components/

And here’s the app spec reference: https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/reference/app-spec/

Let me know if you have any questions!

- Bobby