diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8664166..a3df4e3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ See `requirements.txt`
 
 ## Configuration Options
 - `loglevel`: (optional) define loglevel. Defaults to "INFO" if not set.
+- `compose-opts`: (optional) define additional parameters to `docker compose up -d`.
 - `stacks`: an array containing details for each repository. Each element is a dictionary containing the following keys:
     - `dir`: the directory of the repository on your local machine.
     - `compose-files`: (optional) array of paths (relative to `dir`) to docker-compose files. Uses `["docker-compose.yml"]` by default if not set.
diff --git a/config.yml.example b/config.yml.example
index b1ff0b4..a277ca8 100644
--- a/config.yml.example
+++ b/config.yml.example
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-loglevel: "INFO" # optional
+loglevdel: "INFO" # optional
+compose-opts: "--dry-run"
 stacks:
   - dir: /path/to/first-repo
   - dir: /path/to/second-repo
diff --git a/dc-ops b/dc-ops
index a4f7c8f..92805cd 100755
--- a/dc-ops
+++ b/dc-ops
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ with configfile.open("r") as f:
 loglevel = cfg.get("loglevel", "INFO").upper()
 log.basicConfig(format="%(message)s", level=loglevel)
 
+# define docker compose parameters
+composeopts = cfg.get("compose-opts", "")
+
 # iterate all stacks
 for stack in cfg["stacks"]:
     # skip disabled stacks
@@ -45,7 +48,7 @@ for stack in cfg["stacks"]:
     composefiles = stack.get("compose-files", ["docker-compose.yml"])
     for composefile in composefiles:
         if not run_subprocess(
-            f"docker compose --file {composefile} up --build --detach --remove-orphans",  # noqa
+            f"docker compose --file {composefile} up --detach {composeopts}",
             stackdir,
         ):
             pass