Start a multi-container Compose stack in the foreground with podman compose up (no detach)
domain: podman.io · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
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Documented steps
Ensure podman and a compose provider are installed: `podman --version`. `podman compose` is a thin wrapper that delegates to an external provider (docker-compose takes precedence, else podman-compose).
cd into the directory containing the Compose file (compose.yaml, compose.yml, or docker-compose.yml).
Run `podman compose up`. Podman pulls any missing images, builds services with a build section, creates the project network and named volumes, then creates and starts all containers.
Without -d the combined (interleaved) logs stream to the terminal. Press Ctrl+C to stop; podman forwards the signal to the containers.
Confirm state with `podman compose ps` and inspect per-service output with `podman compose logs <service>`.
Docs: https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-compose.1.html and https://github.com/containers/podman-compose
Known gotchas
podman compose is only a shim: the actual behavior is the installed provider's. Set PODMAN_COMPOSE_PROVIDER=/path/to/provider or compose_providers in [engine] of containers.conf to pin docker-compose vs podman-compose.
Podman runs rootless by default: no central daemon, so `up` works as a normal user without sudo.
The wrapper prints a warning that it executes an external command; silence it with PODMAN_COMPOSE_WARNING_LOGS=false or compose_warning_logs=false in containers.conf.
On macOS/Windows, containers actually run inside a podman machine Linux VM; file sync and networking go through the VM.
Podman uses pod-based networking: services in the stack often resolve via the pod's localhost rather than individual service hostnames like Docker Compose.
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