Which type of environment is not well suited to use Docker Compose?

Docker Compose is primarily designed to simplify the management of multi-container Docker applications for development and testing environments, making it ideal for local, staging, and test environments where quick iterations and ease of use are essential.

In a development environment, Docker Compose allows developers to define and run their applications in isolated environments, making it easy to spin up services and manage dependencies. Staging environments benefit from Docker Compose by allowing teams to mimic the production setup before rolling out changes, ensuring that everything works as expected.

However, while Docker Compose can technically be used in a production environment, it is not its primary target. Production environments often require higher levels of orchestration, scaling, and management capabilities, which tools like Kubernetes are better suited to handle. Kubernetes provides advanced features such as automated load balancing, self-healing, and horizontal scaling, which are critical for maintaining stable and performant applications at scale. Therefore, for production deployments, relying exclusively on Docker Compose can lead to challenges in managing container lifecycles and orchestrating complex service interactions while ensuring high availability and fault tolerance.