Software⏱️ 2 min read📅 2026-05-31

How to Fix: Docker-compose exit code is 137 when there is no OOM exception

Docker-compose exit code 137 when no OOM exception

Quick Answer: Check Docker daemon logs for errors, run `docker-compose up --build --no-deps` to isolate the issue and ensure that the combined container is properly built before running the test.

When you run the command `docker-compose up --build --exit-code-from combined`, Docker Compose is trying to determine the exit code of the container named 'combined'. However, it's not able to do so because the container's process manager (Docker's default is systemd) has exited with a signal 137.

🔍 Why This Happens

  • [Cause]

✅ Best Solutions to Fix It

Method 1: Killing the Container Manually

  1. Step 1: To determine if this is the cause of your issue, run `docker-compose ps` to list all containers. Then, find the ID of the 'combined' container.

Method 2: Using Docker's --no-deps

  1. Step 1: Run the command `docker-compose up --build --no-deps combined` to build and start the container without waiting for other services to finish.

Method 3: Running Docker's Inspect

  1. Step 1: Run the command `docker inspect combined` to get a detailed output of the container.

✨ Wrapping Up

By following these steps, you should be able to identify and fix the issue causing Docker Compose to return an exit code of 137.

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