Docker Compose is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. With applications getting larger and larger as time goes by, it gets harder to manage them in a simple and reliable way. That is where Docker Compose comes into play. Docker Compose allows developers to write a YAML configuration file for application service which then can be started using a single command.

Docker Compose enables to bring up a complete development environment with only one command. This allows developers to keep development environment in one central place and easily deploy applications.

Another great feature of Compose is its support for running unit and end-to-end tests in a quick a repeatable fashion by putting them in their own environments. That means that instead of testing the application on your local/host operating system, you can run an environment that closely resembles the production circumstances.

Compose uses project names to isolate environments from each other bringing the benefits of running multiple copies of the same environment on one machine and preventing different projects and service from interfering with each other.