github.com/docker/compose

This package is essentially Docker Compose's internal Go implementation, not a user-facing SDK. The last release was in 2020, and the API design reflects its purpose as CLI tooling rather than a library for Go developers. You'll find yourself navigating undocumented structures, dealing with CLI-centric abstractions, and wrestling with dependencies that assume you're building the compose binary itself.

The error messages are often cryptic because they're designed for CLI output rather than programmatic handling. When things go wrong, you're debugging internal compose logic rather than clear API boundaries. Documentation is virtually non-existent for library usage - what exists assumes you understand Docker Compose internals. Stack Overflow has almost no coverage of this package as a library, and GitHub issues are focused on the CLI tool, not programmatic usage.

If you need to work with Docker programmatically, use github.com/docker/docker (the Docker Engine API client) or shell out to the docker-compose CLI. This package will leave you fighting against its design rather than building with it.

This package hasn't seen a release since January 2020, which is a major red flag from a security perspective. The library predates significant security improvements in Docker's ecosystem and lacks modern dependency management practices. When integrating it into projects, you'll find yourself dealing with outdated transitive dependencies that trigger CVE scanners regularly.

The API itself is functional for basic Docker Compose operations but error handling is inconsistent—some failures return generic errors that leak internal paths and stack traces, making it difficult to handle failures gracefully without exposing sensitive information. Input validation on compose file parsing is minimal, requiring you to implement your own sanitization layers if you're accepting user-provided configurations.

Authentication and authorization are largely delegated to Docker daemon interactions, which means you need to carefully manage socket permissions and credentials yourself. The library doesn't provide secure-by-default patterns for credential handling, and documentation around secure usage is sparse. For production use, you'd need substantial wrapper code to harden it appropriately.

This package represents the Go library interface to Docker Compose, but its last release in January 2020 raises serious red flags from a security standpoint. The library has not received updates for critical dependency vulnerabilities that have been discovered in the Docker ecosystem since then. When integrating this into production systems, you'll quickly hit issues with outdated crypto/TLS implementations and unpatched CVEs in transitive dependencies.

From a practical usage perspective, the API itself is workable for programmatically managing Docker Compose configurations, but error handling is inconsistent and often exposes internal stack traces that can leak information about your infrastructure setup. Input validation on compose file parsing is present but relies on older schema versions, missing modern security directives. The authentication model delegates entirely to Docker daemon socket permissions, which means you need to carefully manage your own authorization layer.

The library does not follow secure-by-default principles in several areas - TLS verification can be disabled too easily, and there's insufficient guidance on hardening configurations. Given the stale maintenance status, I'd recommend using the Docker SDK directly or looking at newer alternatives rather than building on this unmaintained foundation.