# docker compose pull: Pull Service Images

> How docker compose pull works: pulling images for all services, --ignore-buildable, parallelism, and rate-limit errors in CI.

Source: https://latchkey.dev/learn/command-reference/docker-compose-pull  
Updated: 2026-06-25

Pull the images for every service that uses one.

docker compose pull downloads images for services defined with image:. This page covers selective pulls, quiet mode, and the registry errors CI hits.

## What it does

docker compose pull fetches the images referenced by services (those with image:). Services that are built locally have no remote image; use --ignore-buildable to skip them cleanly.

## Common usage

```Terminal
docker compose pull
docker compose pull db redis
docker compose pull --quiet
docker compose pull --ignore-buildable
```

## Common errors in CI

"toomanyrequests: You have reached your pull rate limit" hits compose pull just like docker pull when images come from Docker Hub - docker login first or mirror the images. "pull access denied ... repository does not exist or may require docker login" means a private image without auth. Pre-pulling with compose pull before up surfaces registry errors early instead of mid-up.

## FAQ

### docker compose pull: Pull Service Images?

docker compose pull downloads images for services defined with image:. This page covers selective pulls, quiet mode, and the registry errors CI hits.

### What it does?

docker compose pull fetches the images referenced by services (those with image:). Services that are built locally have no remote image; use --ignore-buildable to skip them cleanly.

### Common errors in CI?

"toomanyrequests: You have reached your pull rate limit" hits compose pull just like docker pull when images come from Docker Hub - docker login first or mirror the images. "pull access denied ... repository does not exist or may require docker login" means a private image without auth.

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