When you define your application in Docker Compose, you have a single artifact that describes all the components of the application and the integration points between them. This is often referred to as the application manifest—a document that lists all the parts of your app. In the same way that the Dockerfile explicitly defines the steps to install and configure one piece of software, the Docker Compose file explicitly defines the steps to deploy the whole solution.
Docker Compose also lets you capture application definitions that can be deployed to different environments, so your Compose files are usable throughout the deployment pipeline. Usually, there are differences between environments, either in the infrastructure setup or the application settings. Docker Compose gives you two options to manage these environmental differences...
