docker compose logs: View and Follow Logs Across Multiple Services

Quick Answer

# Show logs from all services
docker compose logs

# Follow logs in real time
docker compose logs -f

# Show the last 100 lines for a specific service
docker compose logs -f --tail=100 web

What You’re Trying to Do

You started services with docker compose up -d and now can’t tell whether a container crashed or is still running. With multiple services running, it’s hard to figure out which container a log line even came from.

Environment

Docker Engine 24.x or later
Docker Compose v2 (docker compose command)
OS: Ubuntu 22.04 / macOS / WSL2

Note: The same options work with legacy docker-compose (v1).

Solution

Basic Usage

docker compose logs

This shows stdout/stderr from every service defined in your docker-compose.yml. Each line is prefixed with a color-coded service name, so you can immediately tell which container it came from.

Follow Logs in Real Time

docker compose logs -f
# or
docker compose logs --follow

Like tail -f, this streams new log output as it happens. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Filter to a Specific Service

docker compose logs web
docker compose logs web db

Pass one or more service names to narrow the output to just those services.

Show Only Recent Logs

docker compose logs --tail=100 web
docker compose logs -f --tail=50

--tail limits how many lines are shown — useful when there’s a huge backlog of past logs.

Add Timestamps

docker compose logs -t
# or
docker compose logs --timestamps

Each line gets a timestamp, which is helpful when correlating with logs from other systems.

Show Logs Since a Given Time

docker compose logs --since 2026-07-14T09:00:00
docker compose logs --since 30m

--since accepts an absolute timestamp or a relative duration like 30m (30 minutes ago) or 2h (2 hours ago) — handy for narrowing down when an incident started.

docker logs vs docker compose logs

Command	Target	Use case
`docker logs <container>`	A single container	Check logs by container name/ID directly
`docker compose logs [service]`	One or more services managed by Compose	Check logs across services by name

When you’re running multiple containers together, docker compose logs is far more convenient since you don’t need to look up container IDs each time.

Common Errors

No Logs Show Up at All

# Check whether the containers are actually running
docker compose ps

# Check for a typo in the service name
docker compose config --services

Either the container isn’t running yet, or you’ve specified the wrong service name.

`no such service: web`

You referenced a service name that isn’t defined in docker-compose.yml.

docker compose config --services

Run this to see the correct service names.

Logs Appear to Be Stuck on Old Output

docker compose logs -f --tail=0

--tail=0 skips past history entirely and only waits for new log lines going forward, so you’re not overwhelmed by a large buffered backlog.

App Logs Are Delayed Due to Buffering

If your Node.js or Python app buffers stdout, log lines can appear in delayed batches instead of immediately.

# Node.js example
ENV NODE_OPTIONS="--unhandled-rejections=strict"

# Python example (disable buffering)
ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1

FAQ

Q: What’s the difference between docker compose logs and docker compose logs -f?
docker compose logs prints everything up to the current point and exits. Adding -f (--follow) keeps streaming new log output in real time.

Q: Can I turn off the colored output?
Use the --no-color flag — useful when redirecting logs to a file.

docker compose logs --no-color > app.log

Q: Can I still see logs after removing a container?
No. Removing a container deletes its logs too. If you need long-term retention, configure a logging driver other than the default json-file (such as syslog or fluentd), or have your app write logs to a file or ship them externally.

Q: How do I filter for a specific error message?
Combine it with grep:

docker compose logs | grep -i error

Q: There’s too much log output flooding my terminal.
Limit it with --tail, or pipe it through less to page through it.

docker compose logs --tail=200 | less