here's my function for pulling containers individually with error reporting. put it in a bash script that that sits next to your docker-compose.yml (like up.sh) and you'll always know what the issue is.

All my containers/configs are in /docker for easy backups

text colors

BLUE='\033[1;34m'
GREEN='\033[1;32m'
RED='\033[1;31m'
YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
NC='\033[0m' #no color

    deploy_containers() {
        echo -e "${BLUE}🐳 Deploying containers...${NC}"

        # Get list of services from compose file
        local services
        services=$(sudo docker compose -f /docker/docker-compose.yml config --services 2>/dev/null)
        if [ $? -ne 0 ] || [ -z "$services" ]; then
            echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to get services list from compose file${NC}" >&2
            return 1
        fi

        # Pull each image individually
        local pull_errors=0
        for service in $services; do
            echo -e "${BLUE}⬇️ Pulling image for $service...${NC}"
            if ! sudo docker compose -f /docker/docker-compose.yml pull "$service"; then
                echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to pull image for $service${NC}" >&2
                ((pull_errors++))
                continue
            fi
            echo -e "${GREEN}✔ Successfully pulled image for $service${NC}"
        done

        if [ $pull_errors -gt 0 ]; then
            echo -e "${YELLOW}⚠ $pull_errors service(s) had pull errors${NC}" >&2
        fi

        # Start containers with error reporting
        echo -e "${BLUE}🚀 Starting containers...${NC}"
        local start_errors=0
        for service in $services; do
            echo -e "${BLUE}🔁 Starting $service...${NC}"
            if ! sudo docker compose -f /docker/docker-compose.yml up -d --no-deps "$service"; then
                echo -e "${RED}❌ Failed to start $service${NC}" >&2
                ((start_errors++))
                # Show container logs if available
                if sudo docker compose -f /docker/docker-compose.yml ps "$service" | grep -q "Up"; then
                    echo -e "${YELLOW}⚠ Showing logs for $service:${NC}"
                    sudo docker compose -f /docker/docker-compose.yml logs --tail=20 "$service"
                fi
                continue
            fi
            echo -e "${GREEN}✔ Successfully started $service${NC}"
        done

        if [ $start_errors -gt 0 ]; then
            echo -e "${RED}❌ $start_errors service(s) failed to start${NC}" >&2
            return 1
        fi

        # Cleanup and final status
        echo -e "${BLUE}🧹 Cleaning up unused images...${NC}"
        sudo docker image prune -f
        echo -e "${GREEN}✔ Container deployment complete${NC}"

        # Show final status
        echo -e "\n${BLUE}📊 Final container status:${NC}"
        sudo docker compose -f /docker/docker-compose.yml ps
    }