compose

Docker Compose is the glue that holds your local dev stack together — and now it's finally good enough that you might not need Kubernetes for small deployments. Define your Postgres, Redis, and app containers in one YAML file, run `docker compose up`, and everything just works. V5 dropped the internal builder for Docker Bake, which means faster builds and proper BuildKit caching.

If you're an indie hacker running a SaaS with 3-5 services, Compose is your deployment story until you hit real scale. Kubernetes is overkill until you're past a few thousand users. Podman Compose exists but has rough edges. No commercial equivalent matters — this is free and ships with Docker Desktop.

The catch: Compose is for single-host deployments. The moment you need multi-node orchestration, you're looking at Kubernetes or Docker Swarm (which Docker quietly abandoned). And YAML indentation errors will haunt your dreams.