From 836bbaac08a991803d6130f202bb2310700b677d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?Matej=20Jane=C5=BEi=C4=8D?= <matej.janezic@aflabs.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2026 12:01:26 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] feat: let docker compose find its own file

---
 README.md                     | 12 +++++++++++-
 src/command_builder.rs        | 10 +---------
 src/scripts/docker_compose.rs |  7 -------
 3 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0f71077..59708f9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -38,6 +38,17 @@ SHELL_COMPLETIONS_DIR_FISH=~/.config/fish/completions \
 
 `SHELL_COMPLETIONS_DIR` writes every shell into one directory instead.
 
+## the compose file
+
+`ahab` does not pass `-f`. docker compose finds the file itself, so set
+docker's own `COMPOSE_FILE` when it is not in the working directory, including
+its `base.yaml:override.yaml` form. A project's `.env` is a good place for it,
+since docker reads that too:
+
+```
+COMPOSE_FILE=docker/docker-compose.yaml
+```
+
 ## compose
 
 Wrappers around the matching `docker compose` call, plus `exec` and `bash`
@@ -89,7 +100,6 @@ from the git `origin` remote.
 
 Currently `ahab` respects the following environment variables.
 
-- `COMPOSE_FILE`: control which docker-compose file is used - defaults to `docker/local/docker-compose.yaml`
 - `AHAB_DJANGO_CONTAINER`: control which compose service is used for sending django commands - defaults to `django`
 - `AHAB_POSTGRES_CONTAINER`: control which compose service is used for sending postgres commands - defaults to `db`
 - `AHAB_LINK_ROOT`: root of the out-of-repo store `ahab link` moves paths into - defaults to `${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/ahab`
diff --git a/src/command_builder.rs b/src/command_builder.rs
index 4381fa3..e57697d 100644
--- a/src/command_builder.rs
+++ b/src/command_builder.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use std::{
-    env,
     fmt::Display,
     process::{Child, Command, Stdio},
 };
@@ -27,11 +26,6 @@ impl From<&[String]> for Args {
     }
 }
 
-fn get_compose_file() -> Result<String> {
-    let cf = env::var("COMPOSE_FILE")?;
-    Ok(cf)
-}
-
 #[derive(Default)]
 pub struct CommandBuilder {
     args: Vec<String>,
@@ -49,9 +43,7 @@ impl CommandBuilder {
     }
 
     pub fn docker_compose() -> Self {
-        let cf =
-            get_compose_file().unwrap_or_else(|_| "docker/local/docker-compose.yaml".to_string());
-        Self::default().args("docker compose -f").args(&cf)
+        Self::default().args("docker compose")
     }
 
     pub fn args<T>(mut self, args: T) -> Self
diff --git a/src/scripts/docker_compose.rs b/src/scripts/docker_compose.rs
index c5d403f..ddff849 100644
--- a/src/scripts/docker_compose.rs
+++ b/src/scripts/docker_compose.rs
@@ -24,13 +24,6 @@ pub fn ps() -> Result<()> {
     CommandBuilder::docker_compose().args("ps").exec()
 }
 
-/// Start containers via `docker compose start`. Optionally pass containers to be started.
-/// ```
-/// # use ahab::scripts::docker_compose::start;
-/// start(None);
-/// ```
-/// is roughly the same as
-/// `docker compose --env-file ./.env -f docker/local/docker-compose.yaml up start`
 pub fn start(containers: Option<&str>) -> Result<()> {
     let args = format!("start {}", containers.unwrap_or(""));
     CommandBuilder::docker_compose().args(&args).exec()