Compose Projects

Learn how to manage Docker Compose projects with Arcane - create, edit, start, stop, and deploy multi-service applications.

Compose Projects

What is a Compose Project?

A Compose Project is a collection of services defined in a compose.yaml file. For example, a compose project might include a web server, a database, and a cache, all running together.

What Can You Do With Compose Projects in Arcane?

View Compose Projects: See all your managed compose projects and any external compose projects detected on your Docker host.
Create Compose Projects: Add a new compose project by giving it a name and pasting your compose.yaml content.
Edit Environment Variables: Use the built-in .env editor to manage environment variables for your compose project.
Start/Stop Compose Projects: Easily start or stop all services in a compose project with one click.
Restart or Redeploy: Restart a compose project or redeploy it to pull the latest images for your services.
Update Compose Projects: Change the compose project's name, update its compose file, or modify its environment variables.
Remove Compose Projects: Delete a compose project and its definition from Arcane.

How to Use Compose Projects

Viewing Compose Projects

Go to the Compose Projects section in the sidebar.
You'll see a list of all compose projects, including their names, status (running, partially running, stopped), and how many services are running.

Note: Arcane treats /app/data/stacks as the single source of truth. Any Compose files you place in this directory—whether created through Arcane or added externally—are automatically detected and imported as projects.

Creating a Compose Project

Click the Create Compose Project button.
Enter a name for your compose project.
Paste or write your compose.yaml content.
(Optional) Use the Environment Configuration (.env) editor to define environment variables for your compose project. These variables will be saved in a .env file alongside your compose file.
Click Create. Arcane will save your compose project and try to start it.

Note

To use environment variables from your .env file in your services, you must still reference the file in your compose.yaml using the env_file property.

Example:

services:
  web:
    image: nginx
    env_file:
      - .env

Controlling a Compose Project

Start: Click the Start button to launch all services in the compose project.
Stop: Click Stop to stop and remove all containers in the compose project.
Restart: Click Restart to stop and then start the compose project again.
Redeploy: Click Redeploy to pull the latest images and restart the compose project.

Updating or Removing a Compose Project

To update, open the compose project and click Edit. Change the name, compose file, or environment variables, then save.
To remove, click the Remove button. Confirm the action to delete the compose project from Arcane.

Where Are My Compose Projects Stored?

Arcane saves your compose project definitions (compose files, .env files, and metadata) in its data directory (by default /app/data/compose-projects).

Tip: To keep your compose projects safe, make sure to mount this directory as a Docker volume if you're running Arcane in a container.