Glossary

Below you will find short definitions of important app-compose terms. Understanding these terms will help you set up containers, manage dependencies, and control the flow of your application.

Container

A container is a main part of your app. It is like a building block for your app.

id

An ID is a unique name for the containe

domain

A domain is a category for a container. It helps you put containers in logical groups (for example, ingredients or dish).

dependencies

Dependencies are containers that must start before this container can run.
They are required—if one is missing, your container will not start.

optionalDependencies

optionalDependencies are containers that the container can use if they are available.
They are not required, so your container can still run without them.

api

The object returned by container start. It can have data or methods that other containers use.
An object like { api: {...} | null }

start

The start function runs when the container begins.
It can use the APIs and statuses of container dependencies.

enable

enable is a function that decides if the container can start.
It can use the APIs and statuses of container dependencies.

Compose

compose is a function that collects all containers and prepares them to run.
It returns an object with methods like up for starting the containers.

stages

Stages are steps for starting containers in priority.
Each stage has a name and a list of containers.
The containers in the first stage start first, then the next stage, and so on.

up

A command that starts all containers in the correct order.

graph

A command that displays how containers connect to each other.

diff

A command that shows which containers started and which were skipped or added automatically.