Docker Run ↔ Compose Converter Tool

What is docker run ↔ compose converter?

Docker gives you two equivalent ways to start a container: a `docker run` command full of flags, or a service block in a `docker-compose.yml` file. Teams often have one and need the other — someone hands you a `docker run` one-liner from a README or a Stack Overflow answer and you want it as a proper compose service, or you're staring at an existing compose file and just want to run one service by hand to debug it without touching the file. This tool converts both directions. Paste a `docker run` command — including the common multi-line style with a trailing backslash on each flag — and it parses the recognized flags (`-p`, `-v`, `-e`, `--name`, `--restart`, `--network`, `--entrypoint`, `-it`, and more) into a compose service, with an editable service name. Paste compose YAML back and it does the reverse, building a shell-escaped `docker run` command, with a picker if the file defines more than one service. Neither direction is perfectly lossless — some `docker run` flags have no compose equivalent and some compose fields have no `docker run` equivalent — so anything that couldn't be carried over is called out as a visible warning rather than silently dropped.

When to use it

• Turning a docker run command copied from a README, blog post, or Stack Overflow answer into a proper docker-compose.yml service.
• Extracting one service from an existing compose file as a plain docker run command, to test or debug it in isolation.
• Reviewing exactly which flags or compose fields didn't survive a conversion, instead of guessing what might be missing.
• Learning how a specific docker run flag (like -it, --restart, or -v) maps to its compose YAML equivalent, and vice versa.
• Quickly reformatting a compressed single-line docker run command into a readable, one-flag-per-line multi-line command, or the reverse.

How to use this tool

1. Choose a direction with the segmented control at the top — "docker run → compose" or "compose → docker run".
2. Paste a docker run command (multi-line with trailing backslashes is fine) or a docker-compose.yml file into the input box.
3. For docker run → compose, optionally edit the generated service name — it defaults to --name, or the image name if that wasn't given.
4. For compose → docker run, pick which service to convert if the file defines more than one, and toggle multi-line vs single-line output.
5. Check for any warning below the output listing flags or fields that couldn't be carried over, then copy the result.

Example

A common single-container docker run command, converted to a compose service.

Input

docker run -d --name web -p 8080:80 -e NODE_ENV=production -v ./data:/app/data --restart unless-stopped nginx:alpine

Output

services:
  web:
    image: nginx:alpine
    container_name: web
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - 8080:80
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production

Press "Load example" to fill in this exact command in whichever direction is currently selected — it loads the docker run command above when "docker run → compose" is active, or this same compose YAML when "compose → docker run" is active.