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# Title options
- Multi-host Docker Compose without Kubernetes or file changes
- I built a CLI to run Docker Compose across hosts. Zero changes to your files.
- I made a CLI to run Docker Compose across multiple hosts without Kubernetes or Swarm
---
I've been running 100+ Docker Compose stacks on a single machine, and it kept running out of memory. I needed to spread stacks across multiple hosts, but:
- **Kubernetes** felt like overkill. I don't need pods, ingress controllers, or 10x more YAML.
- **Docker Swarm** is basically in maintenance mode.
- Both require rewriting my compose files.
So I built **Compose Farm**, a simple CLI that runs `docker compose` commands over SSH. No agents, no cluster setup, no changes to your existing compose files.
## How it works
One YAML file maps stacks to hosts:
```yaml
compose_dir: /opt/stacks
hosts:
nuc: 192.168.1.10
hp: 192.168.1.11
stacks:
plex: nuc
jellyfin: hp
grafana: nuc
nextcloud: nuc
```
Then just:
```bash
cf up plex # runs on nuc via SSH
cf apply # makes config state match desired state on all hosts (like Terraform apply)
cf up --all # starts everything on their assigned hosts
cf logs -f plex # streams logs
cf ps # shows status across all hosts
```
## Auto-migration
Change a stack's host in the config and run `cf up`. It stops the stack on the old host and starts it on the new one. No manual SSH needed.
```yaml
# Before
plex: nuc
# After (just change this)
plex: hp
```
```bash
cf up plex # migrates automatically
```
## Requirements
- SSH key auth to your hosts
- Same paths on all hosts (I use NFS from my NAS)
- That's it. No agents, no daemons.
## What it doesn't do
- No high availability (if a host goes down, stacks don't auto-migrate)
- No overlay networking (containers on different hosts can't talk via Docker DNS)
- No health checks or automatic restarts
It's a convenience wrapper around `docker compose` + SSH. If you need failover or cross-host container networking, you probably do need Swarm or Kubernetes.
## Links
- GitHub: https://github.com/basnijholt/compose-farm
- Install: `uv tool install compose-farm` or `pip install compose-farm`
Happy to answer questions or take feedback!