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World D4: Set Meals

Why a set meal?

You will learn: why one file can start your whole app.

Checked with Docker Engine 29 on 31 Oct 2026

The problem

Your laptop~/kedai-kancil

  • No open hatches

Lunchboxes (containers)

  • No containers yet

Frozen packs (images)

  • kedai-api:latest6 layers · 244MB
  • kedai-web:latest9 layers · 92.6MB
  • nginx:1.30-alpine8 layers · 93.5MB
  • node:24-alpine4 layers · 244MB
  • postgres:18-alpine9 layers · 433MB
  • redis:8-alpine7 layers · 162MB

Opening Kedai Kancil by hand takes four long commands. Every morning. In this order. Miss one flag, and the shop stays shut.

Watch

Read the file it wrote. Then press Order the set meal.

Menu (tap or drag)

Your set meal

  • web
    build: ./web
    Waits for
  • api
    build: ./api
    Waits for
  • db
    postgres:18-alpine
    Waits for

compose.yaml 17 lines

services:
web:
build: ./web
ports:
- "8080:80"
api:
build: ./api
environment:
DB_HOST: db
db:
image: postgres:18-alpine
environment:
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: example
volumes:
- db-data:/var/lib/postgresql
volumes:
db-data: {}

A set meal is ordered in one go. Compose: A set meal: start many containers together with one command. does that for containers. One file lists every dish. One order starts them all.

Watch

Your laptop~/kedai-kancil

  • No open hatches

Lunchboxes (containers)

  • No containers yet

Frozen packs (images)

  • kedai-kancil-api:latest6 layers · 244MB
  • kedai-kancil-web:latest9 layers · 92.6MB
  • nginx:1.30-alpine8 layers · 93.5MB
  • node:24-alpine4 layers · 244MB
  • postgres:18-alpine9 layers · 433MB
  • redis:8-alpine7 layers · 162MB

That is the real thing. docker compose up -d reads compose.yaml and starts every dish in the background.

Try it

Your turn. Start the whole shop with one command. Then knock on hatch 8080 with curl localhost:8080.

Your laptop~/kedai-kancil

  • No open hatches

Lunchboxes (containers)

  • No containers yet

Frozen packs (images)

  • kedai-kancil-api:latest6 layers · 244MB
  • kedai-kancil-web:latest9 layers · 92.6MB
  • nginx:1.30-alpine8 layers · 93.5MB
  • node:24-alpine4 layers · 244MB
  • postgres:18-alpine9 layers · 433MB
  • redis:8-alpine7 layers · 162MB

Check

Which tool fits each job?

Drag a card into a box. Or tap the card, then tap the box.

        You did it!

        You can now start a whole stack with one command.

        Go deeper (optional)

        docker compose is a plugin for the docker command. It looks for compose.yaml in your folder. The folder name becomes the project name. That is why the boxes are called kedai-kancil-web-1.

        Real rep (optional), on your own machine:

        Real mission

        1. mkdir hello-set && cd hello-set
        2. printf 'services:\n web:\n image: nginx:1.30-alpine\n ports:\n - "8080:80"\n' > compose.yaml
        3. docker compose up -d
        5. docker compose down

        0 of 5 steps done · Your ticks are saved.