docker-compose inside a NodeJS Container

[JarodStreck]

I was wondering if it works inside a Docker container using the host machine Docker API.
Basically I have a container with a NodeJS app that manage containers. The issue is that docker-compose run the command in the shell but the container itself doesn't have docker nor docker-compose installed. Is there any work-around for that ?

[Steveb-p]

This library works by calling docker-compose binary, so anything that this binary can do, this can do as well.

However, without said binary, it will simply not work. You would either need to be able to call docker-compose inside the container you're working with, or have it spun a different container (docker-in-docker) and execute the commands there.

It might be possible to use dockerode library to work nowadays to execute compose commands, but I'm not familiar with docker API changes to be certain.

[JarodStreck]

Dockerode doesn't run docker-compose . I could actually install docker and docker-compose inside that container and create a new context and connect to my host machine with SSH to get the docker API. No idea if it would work, have to try it.
I'm also very sad that I can't just specify to docker-compose where the docker engine is located.