Question

How to run Docker Compose project serverless.

Posted on February 24, 2025
Container
Asked by Chris Taylor

I want to run my Docker Compose application in Production. This is a multi-container project.

I could deploy my docker-compose.yml file to a Digital Ocean droplet and run all containers and expose my web-server container to the internet and access my application via a domain name. However, this is not serverless to me.

Kubernetes would be over-the-top for my use-case. Is there another Digital Ocean option whereby I provide a list of container images and DO starts them for me? I would need a persistent database too.

Thank you.

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alexdo

Site Moderator

• February 24, 2025

Heya, @christaylordeveloper

You can use DigitalOcean App Platform allows you to deploy containers without managing servers. It automatically scales, handles networking, and provides built-in logging & monitoring.

Push your Docker images to DigitalOcean Container Registry (or Docker Hub).
Create a new App Platform service and provide the container image name.
Define your database as a managed database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or Redis).
Configure environment variables (database connection, API keys).
Deploy & access your application via a DO-provided domain or a custom domain.

The Pros are:

✅ No need to manage VMs (Droplets). ✅ Built-in load balancing & auto-scaling. ✅ Supports managed databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis). ✅ Automatically pulls updates from the registry. ✅ HTTPS by default & zero-downtime deployments.

App Platform supports two ways to build an image for your app: Cloud Native Buildpacks and Dockerfiles.

If you still want control but without full Kubernetes, you can deploy your Docker Compose app to a DigitalOcean Droplet. Use Managed Databases for persistent storage and NGINX as a reverse proxy.

Hope that this helps!