Docker Compose Profiles — Run Different Services for Dev, Test, and Prod

#docker #webdev #tutorial #devops

One Compose File, Multiple Environments

Docker Compose profiles let you define which services run in which environment. No more commenting out services.

docker-compose.yml

services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports: ["3000:3000"]
    depends_on: [db]

  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: secret

  redis:
    image: redis:7
    profiles: [prod]

  mailhog:
    image: mailhog/mailhog
    ports: ["8025:8025"]
    profiles: [dev]

  pgadmin:
    image: dpage/pgadmin4
    ports: ["5050:80"]
    profiles: [dev]

  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus
    profiles: [monitoring]

Usage

# Dev (app + db + mailhog + pgadmin)
docker compose --profile dev up

# Prod (app + db + redis)
docker compose --profile prod up

# With monitoring
docker compose --profile prod --profile monitoring up