diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ce3a55d..ab24a7e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ echo "POSTGRES_SHM=4g" >> .env
 
 Start all processes: nwaku node, database and grafana for metrics. Your [RLN](https://rate-limiting-nullifier.github.io/rln-docs/what_is_rln.html) membership is loaded into nwaku under the hood.
 ```console
-docker compose up -d
+DOCKER_COMPOSE=$(which docker-compose > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "docker-compose" || echo "docker compose")
+$DOCKER_COMPOSE up -d
 ```
 ⚠️ The node might take a few minutes the very first time it runs because it needs to build locally the RLN community membership tree.