High Risk →

compose-up

Starts Docker Compose services and returns structured status.

How to control compose-up ↓

What compose-up does on Lint

AI agents invoke compose-up to trigger actions in Lint. What it does depends on the arguments the agent supplies, and its effects often reach beyond the immediate call — builds kicked off, notifications sent, workflows started.

High Risk

Why compose-up needs a policy

Starting Docker Compose services triggers external operations — launching containers, networking, and potentially binding ports or volumes. This is an Execute-category action as it runs external processes/services whose effects depend on the compose configuration. The blast radius is high because it can spin up arbitrary services on the host system.

From the tool's definition Starts Docker Compose services

Documented attack patterns abuse exactly the kind of access compose-up gives an agent:

How to control compose-up

PolicyLayer is an MCP gateway — it sits between your AI agents and Lint, and nothing reaches the server without passing your rules. This is the rule we recommend for compose-up:

policy.json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "compose-up": {
      "limits": [
        {
          "counter": "compose-up_rate",
          "window": "minute",
          "max": 10,
          "scope": "grant"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

compose-up stays usable, but rate-capped — a runaway agent can't fire it dozens of times a minute. Everything else on the server is denied unless you say otherwise.

  1. Create a free account and register Lint — nothing to install.
  2. Add this policy — paste it, or build it visually.
  3. Point your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, anything) at your gateway URL.
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Related tools and policies

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Questions about compose-up

What does the compose-up tool do? +

Starts Docker Compose services and returns structured status. It is categorised as a Execute tool in the Lint MCP Server, which means it can trigger actions or run processes. Use rate limits and argument validation.

How do I enforce a policy on compose-up? +

Register the Lint MCP server in PolicyLayer and add a rule for compose-up: allow, deny, rate-limit, or require approval. Point your MCP client at the PolicyLayer proxy URL and the rule is enforced on every call, before it reaches Lint. Nothing to install.

What risk level is compose-up? +

compose-up is a Execute tool with high risk. Execute tools should be rate-limited and have argument validation enabled.

Can I rate-limit compose-up? +

Yes. Add a rate_limit block to the compose-up rule in your PolicyLayer policy. For example, setting max: 10 and window: 60 limits the tool to 10 calls per minute. Rate limits are tracked per agent session and reset automatically.

How do I block compose-up completely? +

Set action: deny in the PolicyLayer policy for compose-up. The AI agent will receive a policy violation error and cannot call the tool. You can also include a reason field to explain why the tool is blocked.

What MCP server provides compose-up? +

compose-up is provided by the Lint MCP server (Dave-London/Pare). PolicyLayer sits as a proxy in front of this server to enforce policies before tool calls reach the server.

Enforce policy on every Lint tool call.

Start from Lint, add the rest of your stack, and see everything your agents can call. Then put policy on all of it.

Free to start. No card required.

202 Lint tools catalogued and risk-classified — across an index of 43,000+ MCP servers.

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