docker-compose pull

The docker-compose pull command is used to pull the latest images for services defined in your docker-compose.yml file without starting the containers. This is useful for updating images or preparing them before starting the services.

Basic Usage

Run the following command in the directory where your docker-compose.yml file is located:

docker-compose pull

This will pull all images for the services defined in docker-compose.yml.

Options

• Pull specific service(s): You can specify one or more services to pull only certain images.

  docker-compose pull <service_name>

• Always pull newer images: Use --ignore-pull-failures to ignore errors if a service's image cannot be pulled. This option is useful if some services already have updated images or if you want to avoid failures.

  docker-compose pull --ignore-pull-failures

• Use cached images: Use --parallel to pull images for multiple services in parallel, which can be faster.

  docker-compose pull --parallel

Example

For example, if your docker-compose.yml has services named web and db, and you only want to pull the web image, you would run:

docker-compose pull web

Then you can start your containers using:

docker-compose up -d

This command is especially useful in CI/CD pipelines where you want to ensure you’re using the latest images before deploying.