Best practices for working with environment variables in Docker Compose

Handle sensitive information securely#

Be cautious about including sensitive data in environment variables. Consider using Secrets for managing sensitive information.

Understand environment variable precedence#

Be aware of how Docker Compose handles the precedence of environment variables from different sources (.env files, shell variables, Dockerfiles).

Use specific environment files#

Consider how your application adapts to different environments. For example development, testing, production, and use different .env files as needed.

Know interpolation#

Understand how interpolation works within compose files for dynamic configurations.

Command line overrides#

Be aware that you can override environment variables from the command line when starting containers. This is useful for testing or when you have temporary changes.