diff --git a/api/Makefile b/api/Makefile
index d5daab1d2..e6a87c819 100644
--- a/api/Makefile
+++ b/api/Makefile
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ endif
 ifeq "$(PY_RUN_APPROACH)" "local"
 PY_RUN_CMD := poetry run
 else
-PY_RUN_CMD := docker-compose run $(DOCKER_EXEC_ARGS) --rm $(APP_NAME) poetry run
+PY_RUN_CMD := docker compose run $(DOCKER_EXEC_ARGS) --rm $(APP_NAME) poetry run
 endif
 
 FLASK_CMD := $(PY_RUN_CMD) flask
@@ -89,24 +89,24 @@ setup-local:
 ##################################################
 
 build:
-	docker-compose build
+	docker compose build
 
 start:
-	docker-compose up --detach
+	docker compose up --detach
 
 start-debug:
 	docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.debug.yml up --detach
 
 run-logs: start
-	docker-compose logs --follow --no-color $(APP_NAME)
+	docker compose logs --follow --no-color $(APP_NAME)
 
 init: build init-db init-opensearch
 
 clean-volumes: ## Remove project docker volumes (which includes the DB state)
-	docker-compose down --volumes
+	docker compose down --volumes
 
 stop:
-	docker-compose down
+	docker compose down
 
 check: format-check lint db-check-migrations test
 
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ check: format-check lint db-check-migrations test
 init-db: start-db setup-postgres-db db-migrate
 
 start-db:
-	docker-compose up --detach grants-db
+	docker compose up --detach grants-db
 	./bin/wait-for-local-db.sh
 
 ## Destroy current DB, setup new one
@@ -187,8 +187,8 @@ init-opensearch: start-opensearch
 # TODO - in subsequent PRs, we'll add more to this command to setup the search index locally
 
 start-opensearch:
-	docker-compose up --detach opensearch-node
-	docker-compose up --detach opensearch-dashboards
+	docker compose up --detach opensearch-node
+	docker compose up --detach opensearch-dashboards
 	./bin/wait-for-local-opensearch.sh
 
 
diff --git a/api/README.md b/api/README.md
index f7b5d4302..452009a68 100644
--- a/api/README.md
+++ b/api/README.md
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ root
 │   └── setup.cfg           Python config for tools that don't support pyproject.toml yet
 │   └── Dockerfile          Docker build file for project
 │
-└── docker-compose.yml  Config file for docker-compose tool, used for local development
+└── docker-compose.yml  Config file for docker compose tool, used for local development
 ```
 
 ## Local Development
diff --git a/api/docker-compose.debug.yml b/api/docker-compose.debug.yml
index dcb5d09fa..3215e8bae 100644
--- a/api/docker-compose.debug.yml
+++ b/api/docker-compose.debug.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
-version: "3.8"
-
 # run with `docker compose -f`
 # combines ports and env vars with the main docker-compose.yml main-app service
-
 services:
   grants-api:
     command: [
diff --git a/api/docker-compose.yml b/api/docker-compose.yml
index 9ec206214..30a7df050 100644
--- a/api/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/api/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-version: '3'
-
 services:
-
   grants-db:
     image: postgres:15-alpine
     container_name: grants-db
diff --git a/api/local.env b/api/local.env
index 598e300d8..498c89324 100644
--- a/api/local.env
+++ b/api/local.env
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Local environment variables
-# Used by docker-compose and it can be loaded
+# Used by docker compose and it can be loaded
 # by calling load_local_env_vars() from api/src/util/local.py
 
 ENVIRONMENT=local
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 34331c555..8c52657da 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-version: '3'
-
 include:
   - path: ./api/docker-compose.yml
   - path: ./frontend/docker-compose.yml
diff --git a/frontend/docker-compose.yml b/frontend/docker-compose.yml
index a8e7ecf1f..974b27b3f 100644
--- a/frontend/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/frontend/docker-compose.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-version: "3"
-
 services:
   nextjs:
     container_name: next-dev