Share a persistent named volume across Docker Compose services and reference a pre-existing (external) volume
domain: docs.docker.com/reference/compose-file/volumes/ · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Declare a named volume under the top-level `volumes:` key, then mount it in one or more services with `volumes: [db-data:/var/lib/mysql]`.
Compose creates the named volume on first `docker compose up` and reuses it on later runs, so data survives container recreation.
Reference an already-existing platform volume with `external: true` (and optionally `name:` to give the real name separate from the in-file key).
Map a named volume onto a specific host path using the `local` driver plus driver_opts (type none, o bind, device <abs host path>) when you need a stable Compose name over a host directory.
With `external: true`, Compose looks for the volume literally by the `name:` (or the key) — NOT the project-prefixed name — and errors if it doesn't already exist.
When `external: true` is set, no other attribute except `name` is allowed on the volume entry.
Bind-mount driver_opts require `device` to be an absolute host path that already exists; otherwise the mount fails.
Labels on a named volume (`docker volume inspect`) do NOT apply to raw bind mounts.
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