docker-compose: command not found

Docker Engine version differences cause Compose Not Found because core behaviors around networking, storage drivers, and BuildKit availability changed across major releases. Code that works on Docker 20.x may fail on Docker 24.x or vice versa. Check your Docker version with docker version — the output includes both client and server (daemon) versions, which may differ in remote environments. Docker Compose V2 (bundled as docker compose) replaced the standalone V1 (docker-compose) in 2023 and has subtle behavioral differences: the depends_on condition field, variable expansion in environment values, and profile behavior all changed. If your Compose file uses features from V2 but the environment has V1, commands may silently behave differently and produce Compose Not Found. Pin the Docker Compose version in CI with docker compose version checks. For production deployments, test Docker Engine upgrades in staging first — storage driver migrations (overlay2, devicemapper) are not always automatic and can cause data access errors resembling Compose Not Found.