Interactive shell using Docker Compose

Question

Is there any way to start an interactive shell in a container using Docker Compose only? I've tried something like this, in my docker-compose.yml:

myapp:
  image: alpine:latest
  entrypoint: /bin/sh

When I start this container using docker-compose up it's exited immediately. Are there any flags I can add to the entrypoint command, or as an additional option to myapp, to start an interactive shell?

I know there are native docker command options to achieve this, just curious if it's possible using only Docker Compose, too.

This is not supposed to work. For example, if you have multiple images with `/bin/sh` entrypoint in your compose file, what should it do? — Xiongbing Jin, Mar 27 '16 at 16:38
Hmh, why not just start multiple shells? For example, a shell into a mysql container to work with mysql cli, and a shell into a backup container to run backup commands? — drubb, Mar 27 '16 at 17:06
@ibova The problem is with `docker-compose run myapp` is that it won't expose the ports. So you have to use `docker-compose run --service-ports myapp` but still its not very convenient. — The Fool, Oct 04 '18 at 12:35
@codentary It is just YAML, so quotes are optional in this particular case. — Gogowitsch, Jan 22 '21 at 21:47

score 486 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 06 '20 at 07:16

486

You need to include the following lines in your docker-compose.yml:

version: "3"
services:
  app:
    image: app:1.2.3
    stdin_open: true # docker run -i
    tty: true        # docker run -t

The first corresponds to -i in docker run and the second to -t.

edited Jun 06 '20 at 07:16

Cellcore

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answered Aug 25 '16 at 16:09

Leon Carlo Valencia

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that `stdin_open` is the missing link, for simply providing me the expected behavior when I attach to one of my containers that is already running a shell. – Charney Kaye Dec 07 '16 at 20:50
18

@TheFool, Even I got the same issue. Its better to run `docker-compose run ` – Aswath K Mar 05 '19 at 06:13
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Where exactly is this added? Inside the service? – problemofficer Dec 11 '19 at 20:49
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This seems to be the best answer to the OP's question.. since the issue is that the container exits immediately otherwise, so getting a shell using `docker exec` on it is not going to work. – RoyM Dec 31 '19 at 17:15
This gives me an error on Windows: `colorama\win32.py, line 152, in SetConsoleTitle: ctypes.ArgumentError: ‘ValueError’: embedded null character` – cowlinator Apr 29 '20 at 01:54
the only thing missing here is how to get *out* of the shell without exiting the process and stopping the container. Press CTRL-P-Q to detach. – user3504575 Feb 17 '21 at 20:43

score 283 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 04 '20 at 19:34

283

The canonical way to get an interactive shell with docker-compose is to use:

docker-compose run --rm myapp

You can set stdin_open: true, tty: true, however that won't actually give you a proper shell with up, because logs are being streamed from all the containers.

You can also use

docker exec -ti <container name> /bin/bash

to get a shell on a running container.

edited Oct 04 '20 at 19:34

Daryn

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answered Mar 28 '16 at 15:54

dnephin

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Note you need to add `--service-ports` if you expose any ports(ie for a web server) – epelc Aug 21 '16 at 19:22
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This creates a new container every time you run the above command. If you want a more space efficient use the approach given by @lynx0123. – Casper Sep 01 '16 at 12:46
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I've updated my answer to provide more information and add the `--rm` flag so that the container is removed. The answer by @lynx0123 is not correct. You will not get an interactive shell if you run `docker-compose up`. – dnephin Sep 01 '16 at 16:17
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To get this to work using Docker for Windows, I needed docker-compose v. 1.9.0 (see Github [issue](https://github.com/docker/compose/issues/3194) and [PR](https://github.com/docker/compose/pull/3980)). As of 12/19/16, this only ships with beta versions of Docker for Windows. Then `docker-compose run` works. You'll also want to add `command: /bin/bash` to docker-compose.yml. – Joseph238 Dec 20 '16 at 00:14
7

This should be the top answer. This is what I was looking for when I came here. – mkasberg Jan 25 '17 at 18:38
9

docker-compose up -d && docker attach – Aaron McMillin Apr 24 '17 at 02:34
docker attach is exactly what I've been looking for to connect to my python pdb debugger, thanks! But it won't always help get a shell on the container unless there is an interactive shell running already. Containers are probably already running something more useful. – Joseph Sheedy Oct 25 '18 at 22:29
When using docker exec -ti /bin/bash, you do need the tty: true in docker-compose.yml, otherwise you receive a message that the container is not a tty – Alex Apr 15 '19 at 12:44

score 77 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 14 '17 at 22:06

77

In the official getting started example (https://docs.docker.com/compose/gettingstarted/) with the following docker-compose.yml:

version: '3'
services:
  web:
    build: .
    ports:
     - "5000:5000"
  redis:
    image: "redis:alpine"

After you start this with docker-compose up, you can easily shell into either your redis container or your web container with:

docker-compose exec redis sh
docker-compose exec web sh

answered Nov 14 '17 at 22:06

clay

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That's very good command! – Fernando Kosh Nov 27 '20 at 15:41
And why with other images I can't do it, I just asked here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66638731/why-do-i-need-tty-true-in-docker-compose-yml-and-other-images-do-not – jcarlosweb Mar 15 '21 at 14:54

score 58 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 04 '18 at 09:23

58

docker-compose run myapp sh should do the deal.

There is some confusion with up/run, but docker-compose run docs have great explanation: https://docs.docker.com/compose/reference/run

answered Apr 04 '18 at 09:23

Alex Povar

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Thank you so much. Just a little add to clarify. docker-compose run [your-service-name-defined-in-docker-compose.yml] [sh or bash]. – theeranitp Dec 19 '19 at 10:08
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I think this is the most straightforward of answers. I needed to verify the environment is correct for the service by going `docker-compose run sh` as suggested. – Nae Nov 13 '20 at 11:13
To override the `entrypoint` configured in `docker-compose.yml` I had to use: `docker-compose run --entrypoint /bin/bash myapp` – hfs Feb 27 '21 at 19:28

score 32 · Answer 5 · edited May 08 '20 at 05:07

32

If anyone from the future also wanders up here:

docker-compose exec container_name sh

or

docker-compose exec container_name bash

or you can run single lines like

docker-compose exec container_name php -v

That is after you already have your containers up and running

edited May 08 '20 at 05:07

Tim Fletcher

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answered Oct 08 '18 at 08:40

Eleonora Ivanova

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This is incorrect it is: `docker-compose exec `, not `docker-compose exec `. – loicgasser Dec 19 '20 at 00:02
And why with other images I can't do it, I just asked here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66638731/why-do-i-need-tty-true-in-docker-compose-yml-and-other-images-do-not – jcarlosweb Mar 15 '21 at 14:55

score 25 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 18 '17 at 18:01

25

Using docker-compose, I found the easiest way to do this is to do a docker ps -a (after starting my containers with docker-compose up) and get the ID of the container I want to have an interactive shell in (let's call it xyz123).

Then it's a simple matter to execute docker exec -ti xyz123 /bin/bash

and voila, an interactive shell.

answered Apr 18 '17 at 18:01

David Hersey

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Not sure why this was down-voted - it's a great way to get debugging in case anything goes wrong, and I used this method with success, like, within a minute of reading this solution. – ericmjl Aug 31 '17 at 17:30
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@ericmjl Because it's a two step process where the question asked specifically about using docker-compose features, and was already stated in the other answer – OneCricketeer Sep 02 '17 at 04:34

Carnaru Valentin · Answer 7 · 2020-05-13T13:08:21.893

This question is very interesting for me because I have problems, when I run container after execution finishes immediately exit and I fixed with -it:

docker run -it -p 3000:3000 -v /app/node_modules -v $(pwd):/app <your_container_id>

And when I must automate it with docker compose:

version: '3'
services:
    frontend:
        stdin_open: true
        tty: true
        build: 
            context: .
            dockerfile: Dockerfile.dev
        ports: 
            - "3000:3000"
        volumes: 
            - /app/node_modules
            - .:/app

This makes the trick: stdin_open: true, tty: true

This is a project generated with create-react-app

Dockerfile.dev it looks this that:

FROM node:alpine

WORKDIR '/app'

COPY package.json .
RUN npm install

COPY . . 

CMD ["npm", "run", "start"]

Hope this example will help other to run a frontend(react in example) into docker container.

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 07 '20 at 09:38

If the yml is called docker-compose.yml it can be launched with a simple $ docker-compose up. The corresponding attachment of a terminal can be simply (consider that the yml has specified a service called myservice):

$ docker-compose exec myservice sh

However, if you are using a different yml file name, such as docker-compose-mycompose.yml, it should be launched using $ docker-compose -f docker-compose-mycompose.yml up. To attach an interactive terminal you have to specify the yml file too, just like:

$ docker-compose -f docker-compose-mycompose.yml exec myservice sh

score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Sep 20 '19 at 03:47

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You can do docker-compose exec SERVICE_NAME sh on the command line. The SERVICE_NAME is defined in your docker-compose.yml. For example,

services:
    zookeeper:
        image: wurstmeister/zookeeper
        ports:
          - "2181:2181"

The SERVICE_NAME would be "zookeeper".

edited Sep 20 '19 at 03:47

J. Scott Elblein

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answered Jan 28 '19 at 18:14

Yu N.

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Interactive shell using Docker Compose

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