docker: 'compose' is not a docker command

The “docker: ‘compose’ is not a docker command” error means you are trying to use docker compose (v2 plugin) but the Docker Compose plugin is not installed. Docker ships Compose v1 as docker-compose (standalone) and v2 as a docker subcommand.

What It Means

The compose subcommand is not registered in your Docker CLI. Docker Compose is not bundled with the base Docker engine and must be installed separately — either as the standalone docker-compose binary or as the official CLI plugin.

Why It Happens

• Docker Compose was never installed.
• You installed Docker from a minimal package that excludes plugins.
• You upgraded Docker but the plugin was not upgraded or was removed.
• You are using docker compose (v2) but only have docker-compose (v1) installed.
• The plugin directory (~/.docker/cli-plugins/) does not contain docker-compose.

How to Fix It

1. Install the Docker Compose plugin (Linux)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin -y

For RHEL / Fedora:

sudo yum install docker-compose-plugin

2. Verify the plugin is installed

docker compose version

Expected output: Docker Compose version v2.24.0

3. Install the standalone docker-compose (v1)

sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

Verify:

docker-compose --version

4. Install via pip (alternative)

pip install docker-compose

This installs the standalone v1 binary.

5. Install the plugin manually (all distros)

mkdir -p ~/.docker/cli-plugins
curl -SL "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
chmod +x ~/.docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

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