Not detecting docker compose.

[MrChuw]

When trying to run hawser using Docker on an Alpine v3.22 machine, Dockhand says Docker Compose is not installed. Please install either 'docker compose' (v2) or 'docker-compose' (v1)

docker-compose.yml

services:
  hawser:
    image: ghcr.io/finsys/hawser:latest
    container_name: hawser
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "2376:2376"
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
      - /root/hawser/hawser-stacks:/root/hawser/hawser-stacks
    environment:
      - STACKS_DIR=/root/hawser/hawser-stacks
      - TOKEN="super-secret-string-that-need-to-be-replaced"

hawser logs:

hawser  | ╭─────────────────────────────────────╮
hawser  | │           HAWSER AGENT              │
hawser  | │     Remote Docker Agent for         │
hawser  | │           Dockhand                  │
hawser  | ╰─────────────────────────────────────╯
hawser  | Version: 0.2.39 (79f6dd9)
hawser  | Agent ID: "super-secret-string"
hawser  | Agent Name: "super-secret-string"
hawser  | Docker Socket: /var/run/docker.sock
hawser  | Log Level: INFO
hawser  | 
hawser  | 2026/04/21 15:45:11 [INFO] Starting in Standard mode on port 2376
hawser  | 2026/04/21 15:45:12 [INFO] Connected to Docker 28.3.3 (API 1.51)
hawser  | 2026/04/21 15:45:12 [INFO] Starting HTTP server on 0.0.0.0:2376

Dockerhand logs:

dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ========================================
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] DEPLOY STACK START
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ========================================
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Environment ID: 5
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Force recreate: false
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Source directory: /root/dockhand/dockhand_data/git-repos/Test/librespeed-test/librespeed
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Custom compose path: (none)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Custom env path: (none)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Compose filename: docker-compose.yml
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.329Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Env filename: (none)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.330Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Using compose filename from git config: docker-compose.yml
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.330Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Read 2 files from source directory
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.330Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Files: .env.exemple, docker-compose.yml
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.330Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Copying source directory to stack directory...
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.331Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Copied /root/dockhand/dockhand_data/git-repos/Test/librespeed-test/librespeed -> /root/dockhand/dockhand_data/stacks/Test/librespeed-test
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.331Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Compose content length: 412 chars
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.331Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Compose content (full):
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.331Z ---
dockhand  | services:
dockhand  |   librespeed:
dockhand  |     image: lscr.io/linuxserver/librespeed:latest
dockhand  |     container_name: librespeed
dockhand  |     environment:
dockhand  |       - PUID=1000
dockhand  |       - PGID=1000
dockhand  |       - TZ=Etc/UTC
dockhand  |       - DB_TYPE=sqlite
dockhand  |       - IPINFO_APIKEY=${IPINFO_APIKEY}
dockhand  |     volumes:
dockhand  |       - ./config:/config
dockhand  |     #ports:
dockhand  |     #  - ${PORT:-7432}:80
dockhand  |     restart: unless-stopped
dockhand  |     networks:
dockhand  |       - caddy
dockhand  | 
dockhand  | networks:
dockhand  |   caddy:
dockhand  |     external: true
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.332Z [Stack:librespeed-test] DB non-secret override vars: 1
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.332Z [Stack:librespeed-test] DB secret vars: 0
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.332Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Calling executeComposeCommand...
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.332Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Including .env.dockhand override file for Hawser (1 vars)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ----------------------------------------
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] EXECUTE COMPOSE VIA HAWSER
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ----------------------------------------
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Operation: up
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Environment ID: 5
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Force recreate: false
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Remove volumes: false
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Service name: (all services)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Compose filename: docker-compose.yml
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Non-secret env vars count: 1
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Secret env vars count: 0
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] All env vars being sent (masked): {
dockhand  |   "IPINFO_APIKEY": "***"
dockhand  | }
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Compose content length: 412 chars
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Stack files count: 3
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Stack files: .env.exemple, docker-compose.yml, .env.dockhand
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Generated .env file with 1 non-secret variables
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.333Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Sending request to Hawser agent...
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.706Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ----------------------------------------
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.706Z [Stack:librespeed-test] HAWSER RESPONSE
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.706Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ----------------------------------------
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.706Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Success: false
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.706Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Error: Docker Compose is not installed. Please install either 'docker compose' (v2) or 'docker-compose' (v1)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.706Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ========================================
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.707Z [Stack:librespeed-test] DEPLOY STACK RESULT
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.707Z [Stack:librespeed-test] ========================================
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.707Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Success: false
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T15:46:24.707Z [Stack:librespeed-test] Error: Docker Compose is not installed. Please install either 'docker compose' (v2) or 'docker-compose' (v1)
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T16:00:00.012Z [Volume Helper Cleanup] Starting cleanup of stale and expired volume helper containers
dockhand  | 2026-04-21T16:00:01.652Z [Volume Helper Cleanup] Cleanup completed successfully

If I run the hawser binary, it is able to detect the docker compose file.

[jotka]

is it the same on the latest or 0.2.41?

[MrChuw]

is it the same on the latest or 0.2.41?

Yes, even in version 0.2.41 it doesn't work.

When I went to copy the logs I was testing older versions to see if any worked and I forgot to switch back to the latest one.

[irish1986]

I am navigating around this problem also, what the solution ? Dockhand is a new thing to me so I am trying to understand how to fix the remote deployment issue.