Docker Compose 5.5.0

Docker Compose 5.5.0 hit the shelves on August 17, 2026 — and the headline act is a full overhaul of image digest reconciliation. The short version: fewer surprise container recreations, smarter pulls, and a pile of watch-mode fixes. Let's break it down.

Digest Detective — Reconciliation Reworked

The big one. Compose now re-evaluates image digests with brand-new logic, which means existing containers may be recreated the first time you run compose up after upgrading. That's a one-time event while digests settle into the new model — after that, the whole point kicks in: no more unnecessary container recreation when nothing actually changed.

Pull Power — Refresh Windows Honored

compose pull now respects pull_policy refresh windows — daily, weekly, and every_N — so your pull scheduling finally behaves the way the config always promised it would.

Bug Bashes

• Build-only services — bridge mode skips pulling default image references for services that only build, saving bandwidth and time.
• Watch works again — no more pruning every dangling image of the project; unreadable directories are skipped instead of killing the watch session.
• Config correctness — service environment now factors into --hash output, and bridge subcommands validate their arguments.
• Up monitor — one-off container events no longer confuse up's monitoring loop.
• Images resilience — containers whose image record has vanished are tolerated instead of crashing the whole command.

Housekeeping Highlights

Golang bumped to 1.26.6, Docker CLI to 29.7.2, buildkit to 0.32.2, and buildx to 0.36.1. Three brand-new contributors landed their first PRs in this cycle — shoutout to @ericwyles, @Endika, and @brano-osif.

Upgrade Advisory

Update your binary or image, then plan for that one-time recreation on the first compose up. Scripts that diff container IDs across restarts should re-verify expectations after the first run. After that, it's smoother sailing.