How to Convert a Docker Compose File to Kubernetes Manifests Using Kompose

Many of us use Docker for local development, but when it’s time to run containers on Kubernetes, converting your setup can seem daunting. Kompose makes this transition easy by converting your docker-compose.yml into Kubernetes manifests.

Below are the latest steps to get your services running on Kubernetes:

1. Install Kompose (Latest Version)

On Mac (using Homebrew):

brew install kompose

Or download the latest release manually:

curl -L https://github.com/kubernetes/kompose/releases/latest/download/kompose-darwin-amd64 -o kompose

chmod +x kompose

sudo mv ./kompose /usr/local/bin/kompose

2. Prepare Your Docker Compose File

• 
  Build and push your Docker images to a remote registry.


• 
  Update your docker-compose.yml so that each service uses the image URL from your registry (not a local build context).

Example docker-compose.yml:

version: "3"

services:

  mythical-requester:

    image: <REMOTE-IMAGE>

    ports:

      - "4001:4001"

    environment:

      - NAMESPACE=production

      - LOGS_TARGET=http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push

      - TRACING_COLLECTOR_HOST=agent

      - TRACING_COLLECTOR_PORT=4317

      - OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_INSECURE=true

      - OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES=ip=1.2.3.4



  mythical-server:

    image: <REMOTE-IMAGE>

    ports:

      - "4000:4000"

      - "80:80"

    depends_on:

      - mythical-database

    environment:

      - NAMESPACE=production

      - LOGS_TARGET=http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push

      - TRACING_COLLECTOR_HOST=agent

      - TRACING_COLLECTOR_PORT=4317

      - OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_INSECURE=true

      - OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES=ip=1.2.3.5



  mythical-recorder:

    image: <REMOTE-IMAGE>

    ports:

      - "4002:4002"

    environment:

      - NAMESPACE=production

      - LOGS_TARGET=http://loki:3100/loki/api/v1/push

      - TRACING_COLLECTOR_HOST=agent

      - TRACING_COLLECTOR_PORT=4317

      - OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_INSECURE=true

      - OTEL_RESOURCE_ATTRIBUTES=ip=1.2.3.5

3. Convert Docker Compose to Kubernetes Manifests

Run the following command in the directory containing your docker-compose.yml:

kompose convert

Kompose will generate Kubernetes YAML files for each service, typically creating both a deployment and a service manifest per service.

4. Deploy to Kubernetes

1. 
   

   Move all generated YAML files to a folder (e.g., deployment/):
   
   

   
   

   mkdir deployment
   
   mv *.yaml deployment/
   
   

   
   
   



2. Connect to your Kubernetes cluster (ensure kubectl is configured).



3. 
   

   Apply all manifests:
   
   

   
   

   kubectl apply -f deployment/
   
   

   
   
   


4. 
   

   Check your pods:
   
   

   
   

   kubectl get pods
   
   

   
   
   

Congratulations!


Your Docker Compose services are now running on your Kubernetes cluster.

References:

• Kompose GitHub Releases


• Kompose Documentation