Can you start services manually when using docker compose?

As in having container A, B and C with an executable A, B and C (originating from the same source btw) where I can start/stop A, B, C independently?

All examples seem to use it as a whole thing where all containers must be up for the service to work.

Idea of docker compose is to start multiple services together, so you have complex system managed with one tool.

They are however individual docker containers, so read that docker compose config what they are, and start them independently if you want. Then they don't though communicate with each other as flawlessly, but if you want to see just one component, that's easy way to do it.

I just made one container without any cmd and run the executable on starting the container. This way the container holds only the dependencies and my builds, which is easier to deploy for me.

Thanks for the input anyways.(: