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Docker Compose is a tool that lets you describe and run several containers as a single system, using one configuration file, `docker-compose.yml`.

Why it is needed:

## Managing several services

If an application consists of backend + frontend + database + cache, Compose lets you bring everything up with one command:

```javascript
docker compose up
```

## A single configuration

The `docker-compose.yml` file describes services, networks, volumes, environment variables, ports, and dependencies between containers.

## Convenient local development

It is easy to start, stop, rebuild, and update the development environment.

## Automatic network creation

Services inside `docker-compose` see each other by name, without manual configuration.

Example of a minimal config:

```yaml
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
  db:
    image: postgres
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: example
```

Compose is needed when a project consists not of a single container, but of a set of services that need to work together.

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