Using the host ip in docker-compose

docker-compose allows to use environment variables from the environment running the compose command.

See documentation at https://docs.docker.com/compose/compose-file/#variable-substitution

Assuming you can create a wrapper script, like @balver suggested, you can set an environment variable called EXTERNAL_IP that will include the value of $(docker-machine ip).

Example:

#!/bin/sh
export EXTERNAL_IP=$(docker-machine ip)
exec docker-compose $@

and

# docker-compose.yml
version: "2"
services:
  consul:
    image: consul
    environment:
      - "EXTERNAL_IP=${EXTERNAL_IP}"
    command: agent -server -advertise ${EXTERNAL_IP} -bootstrap

Unfortunately if you are using random port assignment, there is no way to add EXTERNAL_PORT, so the ports must be linked statically.

PS: Something very similar is enabled by default in HashiCorp Nomad, also includes mapped ports. Doc: https://www.nomadproject.io/docs/jobspec/interpreted.html#interpreted_env_vars