Set a Docker Compose service restart policy (no, always, on-failure, unless-stopped)

domain: docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/05-services/ · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Add the service-level attribute `restart: <policy>`.
  2. Choose a policy: `no` (default, never restarts), `always` (always restarts until removed), `on-failure` / `on-failure:5` (restart only on a non-zero exit, optionally capped at N retries), or `unless-stopped` (restart regardless of exit code, stop when the service is explicitly stopped or removed).
  3. Example: `restart: unless-stopped` keeps a crash-looping container running.
  4. Apply/change policies on a running project with `docker compose up -d` after editing the file.
  5. Docs: https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/05-services/

Known gotchas

Related routes

Set a Docker Compose service restart policy (no, always, on-failure, unless-stopped)
docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/05-services · 4 steps · unrated
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Control Docker Compose graceful shutdown with stop_grace_period and docker compose stop --time
docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/05-services/ · 5 steps · unrated

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