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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteBecause ordinary docker compose up does not perform a zero-downtime rollout. When a service’s image or configuration changes, Compose stops and recreates its container. A healthcheck can report whether a container is healthy, but it does not keep the old instance serving while a replacement starts, switch traffic between them, or drain existing connections. To avoid a request gap, you need overlapping instances and a traffic handoff managed by a proxy, load balancer, or an orchestrator configured for rolling updates.
What happens during a normal Compose redeploy?
When a service’s image or configuration has changed, docker compose up stops and recreates its existing container. Docker’s production example uses docker compose build web followed by docker compose up --no-deps -d web, and describes the changed service as stopped, destroyed, and recreated. With only one app container, there is no second instance to serve requests while that replacement is starting. See Docker’s docker compose up reference and production deployment guidance.
The -d flag runs containers in the background; it does not make the replacement overlap with the old container. Likewise, a successful command means Compose completed its work, not that every request path experienced uninterrupted service.
Why a healthcheck does not make the rollout seamless
Health reports status; it does not route requests
A Compose healthcheck runs a check and reports the container’s health status. It does not, by itself, add the new container to a proxy, remove the old one, or direct user requests to whichever instance is ready. Those traffic decisions require a proxy or load balancer configured to manage upstream membership.
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Startup order is not readiness
Short-form depends_on controls dependency startup order, but Compose does not wait for a dependency to become healthy before starting the dependent service. If an app must wait for a database or another dependency to be ready, use a meaningful healthcheck and the long-form condition condition: service_healthy. Docker documents the distinction in its service definition reference and startup-order guide.
Even with that condition, Compose is coordinating startup dependencies—not orchestrating a rolling application release. It does not create the old/new overlap and traffic cutover needed to keep a single-host app available during replacement.
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Why requests can fail while the container is stopping
Compose sends the configured stop signal, which defaults to SIGTERM. It then waits for stop_grace_period before sending SIGKILL if the container has not exited. Docker documents a default grace period of 10 seconds. The application must respond to the signal appropriately: stop accepting new work, finish or safely hand off in-flight requests, and exit within its allowed window. See the Compose service reference.
A generous grace period can give a cooperative app more time to finish work, but it cannot create a replacement backend or redirect new requests away from the stopping container. If the application cannot handle signals directly, Docker’s Compose FAQ suggests using an init system or signal proxy.
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What an overlapping rollout needs
A typical proxy-backed handoff keeps the existing instance in service while a replacement starts. The rollout verifies that the new instance can serve requests, changes proxy routing, lets connections to the old instance drain, and only then stops the old one. Each stage matters: declaring a container healthy is not the same as switching traffic, and switching new requests is not the same as letting existing requests finish.
- Start a replacement without removing the serving instance. Confirm the host, ports, and application design allow both versions to run at once.
- Check real readiness. Test whether the replacement can handle the requests it will receive, not merely whether its process exists.
- Move traffic deliberately. Update proxy or load-balancer membership only after the replacement passes the readiness check.
- Drain the old instance. Stop sending it new requests and allow active requests and long-lived connections to finish according to your application’s needs.
- Stop the old instance gracefully. Ensure the process handles its stop signal and its shutdown fits the configured grace period.
The third-party docker-rollout project documents one Compose-oriented implementation of this general pattern. Its behavior is implementation-specific; plain docker compose up does not gain that rollout behavior simply because the project uses a Compose file.
Choose an approach that matches your availability needs
| Approach | Overlap and traffic handoff | Readiness and draining | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-instance Compose recreation | The changed container is stopped and recreated; the standard command does not document old/new overlap. | Healthchecks can report health, but do not perform traffic cutover on their own. | A simple single-host deployment where a brief interruption is acceptable. |
| Compose with a proxy and rollout process or tool | Can keep old and new instances present and switch traffic after the replacement passes a health check. | Requires configured readiness, proxy membership changes, and connection draining; exact behavior depends on the implementation. | A single-host deployment that can run multiple compatible app instances. |
| Docker Swarm service update | Update configuration supports parallelism and start-first or stop-first ordering; stop-first is the default. | Configure monitoring, failure action, and rollback behavior; readiness still depends on useful health checks. | A deployment that actually uses Swarm service orchestration and its update controls. |
Docker’s Compose Deploy Specification describes Swarm update and rollback settings. Do not assume those settings cause a rolling update unless the runtime performing the deployment consumes them.
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Diagnose the request drops in order
- Identify the deployment command and runtime. Check whether the changed service is being recreated by ordinary Compose
up, or whether a proxy-backed rollout process or Swarm service update actually manages the release. - Inspect the healthcheck’s meaning. Confirm it tests the app’s ability to serve relevant requests. If startup depends on another service’s readiness, use long-form
depends_onwithcondition: service_healthy; do not mistake dependency ordering for traffic management. - Trace shutdown behavior. Check the configured stop signal, whether the app stops accepting work and completes active requests, and whether
stop_grace_periodis long enough for its actual shutdown needs. - Verify the traffic handoff. Inspect when the proxy adds and removes upstreams, how it determines health, and how long it allows existing connections to drain.
- Check overlap constraints. Confirm both versions can bind the required ports and run at the same time, and that old and new versions are compatible while both serve traffic.
- Test the full request path during deployment. Include keep-alive and long-lived requests, not only a quick health endpoint. A green container check does not prove that proxy routing and in-flight connection handling are correct.
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