Install Docker Compose on Ubuntu 20.04
Published on December 3, 2020•Updated on November 21, 2023
Introduction
Docker Compose is a powerful toolkit to manage multi-container projects provided by the Docker official team. Many popular Docker projects require Docker Compose to run, such as Bitwarden. By default, Docker Compose is not installed alongside Docker when using the Ubuntu apt package manager. This guide explains how to install Docker Compose on a Vultr Ubuntu 20.04 cloud server instance.
Prerequisites
- A Vultr Ubuntu 20.04 LTS cloud server instance
- Follow this guide to install Docker CE.
1. Install Python and pip
Docker Compose requires Python and the pip package manager.
$ sudo apt install -y python3 python3-pip
2. Install Docker Compose
Install Docker Compose with pip.
$ sudo pip3 install docker-compose
3. Test Docker Compose
Verify the Docker Compose installation.
$ docker-compose -v
docker-compose version 1.27.4, build unknown
Next Steps
The Docker Compose Getting Started guide is an excellent place to begin exploring. Docker also has several sample apps online.