If you're using Docker Compose, add this to your environment: environment: - WAIT_COMMAND=[ $(curl --write-out %{http_code} --silent --output /dev/null http://elastic:9200/_cat/health?h=st) = 200 ] - WAIT_START_CMD=python /code/lytten/main.py - WAIT_SLEEP=2 - WAIT_LOOPS=10

Then, create a 'wait' bash script in your app's source code that looks like this: !/bin/bash echo $WAIT_COMMAND echo $WAIT_START_CMD

    is_ready() {
        eval "$WAIT_COMMAND"
    }

    # wait until is ready
    i=0
    while ! is_ready; do
        i=`expr $i + 1`
        if [ $i -ge $WAIT_LOOPS ]; then
            echo "$(date) - still not ready, giving up"
            exit 1
        fi  
        echo "$(date) - waiting to be ready"
        sleep 10
    done

    #start the script
    exec $WAIT_START_CMD

to its specification