systems // DockerLAB
Docker Compose Healthcheck — Fail Closed on Dependency Readiness
Expose service readiness as health state instead of assuming a started container is usable.
dockercomposehealthcheckoperations
Trust & provenanceLAB
Evidence tierLABOfficial sources0Other sources1Last verified2026-10-05
Evidence tier describes my hands-on relationship with the content. Official sources describe platform contracts/documentation. Production observations should not automatically be treated as official limits.
A service depends on an HTTP/database endpoint being genuinely ready before downstream work starts.
services:
app:
image: your-image:latest
healthcheck:
test: ["CMD", "curl", "-fsS", "http://localhost:8080/health"]
interval: 30s
timeout: 5s
retries: 3
start_period: 20sContainer state and application readiness are different signals. A healthcheck makes the distinction observable.
Keep the health endpoint cheap and deterministic.
Do not put destructive repair logic inside the healthcheck itself.