The question was answered by @cricket_007:

It's not a supported use case, nor meant to be used that way. github.com/docker/compose/issues/4542#issuecomment-283191533 You could just use subprocess module to shell out to the commands, or use docker-py directly – cricket_007 Dec 9 '18 at 22:36

And the answer was accepted by the OP:

Ok so, I think the simplest way for me is to use subprocess module. Thanks for your response :) – Nidal

I created a package to make this easy: python-on-whales

Install with

pip install python-on-whales

Then you can do

from python_on_whales import docker
docker.compose.up()
docker.compose.stop()
# and all the other commands.

You can find the source for the package in my GitHub repository: https://gabrieldemarmiesse.github.io/python-on-whales/

You can use python image directly (if alpine is required, there is versions based on it) https://hub.docker.com/_/python I think that best way to solve your request is build your own docker image:

create docker file

Dockerfile

FROM python:3

WORKDIR /usr/src/app

COPY requirements.txt ./
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

In this example you store your requirements in requirements.txt file.

Requirements file your can build with pip freeze > requirements.txt command (useful if you use virtual env's)

or

FROM python:3

WORKDIR /usr/src/app

COPY requirements.txt ./
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir {mysql package name} {redis package name}

then you can push it in your docker hub registry, or build and use it directly from your docker-compose

Build your image and use with docker compose

You can build and push it to docker hub (here you can find more info: https://docs.docker.com/get-started/part3/)

Then your docker compose will be like:

docker-compose.yaml

version: '3'
services:
  cron-job:
    image: dockerhub-login/your-image-name:tag
    ...

You can use Dockerfile in docker-compose:

docker-compose.yaml

version: '3'
services:
  cron-job:
    build: path/to/Dockerfile
    ...

if Dockerfile and docker-compose.yaml in the same directory, then you can use build: .