Add and manage a custom service

This walkthrough adds a small internal container to an existing development environment, inspects it, and removes it. Use the same context for every command.

For file conventions, Compose override and web-routing examples, dashboard discovery, and authentication behavior, read mw dev custom --help.

Define a service

Find the Compose file selected by the example service-set name:

mw dev custom --name custom-example where

Create the file at the printed path with the following content. If that file already exists, choose another custom- name and adjust the commands and service name below. Do not overwrite an existing definition.

services:
  custom-example:
    image: busybox:1.37
    command: ["sleep", "86400"]
    security_opt:
      - label:disable
    dns:
      - ${NETWORK_SUBNET_PREFIX}.10
    networks:
      - dps

This container runs for a day and publishes no web endpoint. Matching its service name to the service-set name lets custom exec select it directly.

Start and inspect it

mw dev custom --name custom-example create
mw dev custom --name custom-example exec -- uname -a

Check the command output and find custom-example on the environment dashboard. Allow its five-second status cache to refresh. The dashboard lists internal services too, so a service can appear without a web UI link.

To adapt this example into a web service, follow the configuration examples in mw dev custom --help and the gateway guide. They explain local hostname access and authenticated public routes.

Stop, restart, and remove it

mw dev custom --name custom-example stop
mw dev custom --name custom-example start
mw dev custom --name custom-example exec -- uname -a

Remove the example container when finished:

mw dev custom --name custom-example destroy

Then delete only the example Compose file you created. Refresh dashboard metadata with mw dev where and reload after the status cache expires.

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Read this guide offline with mw help guides dev custom-services.