Docker Compose in Production in 2026: I Ran My Real Stack for 30 Days and Here Are the Numbers A docker-compose.yml in production is basically the neighborhood mechanic shop. No dealer-level infrastructure, no touchscreen diagnostic system, no certified tech with three specializations. But the neighborhood mechanic knows every bolt on your car, gets it running in ten minutes when the dealer would've taken three days, and charges a third of the price. Once you understand that, you stop apologizing for using it. That's the tension that blew up a Hacker News thread a few days ago — 398 points — asking whether Docker Compose in production is a legitimate tool or technical debt dressed up as convenience. I sat there reading comments for twenty minutes. People with solid arguments on both sides. And me, sitting there with my stack running on Railway for months, thinking: I have the logs, I have the numbers, why am I reading other people's opinions? So I did it properly. Thirty days of my own metrics.…