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Fix "unable to locate package docker-compose-plugin"

If you are trying to install Docker Compose on Ubuntu or Debian and see this error:

E: Unable to locate package docker-compose-plugin

It means your package manager (apt) cannot find the docker-compose-plugin package in your configured repositories. This usually happens because you are using the default OS repositories instead of the official Docker repository.

The Fix​

To fix this, you need to set up the official Docker repository.

1. Update apt and install prerequisites​

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg

2. Add Docker's GPG key​

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

3. Add the repository​

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

4. Update and Install​

Now that the repository is added, update the package index and install the plugin:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-compose-plugin

5. Verify​

Check if it works:

docker compose version

Why did this happen?​

The docker-compose-plugin package is specific to Docker's modern installation method (Docker Desktop or Docker Engine via their repo). Older guides might suggest installing docker-compose (the standalone python binary), but the modern standard is the plugin which adds the compose subcommand to the docker CLI.

Still stuck?​

If you just want to get your app running without fighting Linux package managers, try Hostim.

Deploy on Hostim

Hostim.dev gives you a pre-configured Docker environment. Just bring your code or Compose file.