diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 16c0635..81d1464 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ custom:
     docker:
       # Enable this flag to run "docker ..." commands as sudo
       sudo: False
+      compose_file: /home/localstack_compose.yml # optional to use docker compose instead of docker or localstack cli
   stages:
     local:
       ...
@@ -207,7 +208,7 @@ custom:
 ```
 
 ## Change Log
-
+* v1.2.1: Add docker_compose config and fix autostart when plugin is not active 
 * v1.1.3: Fix replacing host from environment variable `AWS_ENDPOINT_URL`
 * v1.1.2: Unify construction of target endpoint URL, add support for configuring `AWS_ENDPOINT_URL`
 * v1.1.1: Fix layer deployment if `mountCode` is enabled by always packaging and deploying
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 065420a..34f50ec 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -472,7 +472,7 @@ class LocalstackPlugin {
     }
 
     const startCompose = () => {
-      return exec(`docker-compose -f ${this.config.compose_file} `).then(getContainer)
+      return exec(`docker-compose -f ${this.config.docker.compose_file} `).then(getContainer)
     }
 
     return getContainer().then(
@@ -481,7 +481,7 @@ class LocalstackPlugin {
           return;
         }
 
-        if(this.config.compose_file){
+        if(this.config.docker && this.config.docker.compose_file){
             return startCompose();
         }