diff --git a/Sources/Container-Compose/Commands/ComposeUp.swift b/Sources/Container-Compose/Commands/ComposeUp.swift
index 719ff21..45a8e5f 100644
--- a/Sources/Container-Compose/Commands/ComposeUp.swift
+++ b/Sources/Container-Compose/Commands/ComposeUp.swift
@@ -455,6 +455,46 @@ public struct ComposeUp: AsyncParsableCommand, @unchecked Sendable {
         ])) != nil
     }
 
+    /// Parses a Compose memory string (e.g. `"128m"`, `"2g"`, `"512"`) into bytes.
+    /// Units are binary (1k = 1024), matching how Apple Container interprets
+    /// `--memory` (`128m` → 134217728 = 128 MiB). Returns `nil` when the value
+    /// can't be parsed, so callers can fall back to passing it through verbatim.
+    static func parseMemoryToBytes(_ value: String) -> Int64? {
+        let trimmed = value.trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines).lowercased()
+        guard !trimmed.isEmpty else { return nil }
+
+        // Split the leading number from the unit suffix.
+        guard let split = trimmed.firstIndex(where: { !$0.isNumber && $0 != "." }) else {
+            // Bare number → bytes.
+            return Int64(trimmed)
+        }
+        let numberPart = String(trimmed[..<split])
+        let unit = String(trimmed[split...]).filter { $0.isLetter }
+        guard let amount = Double(numberPart) else { return nil }
+
+        let multiplier: Int64
+        switch unit {
+        case "", "b": multiplier = 1
+        case "k", "kb", "kib": multiplier = 1_024
+        case "m", "mb", "mib": multiplier = 1_024 * 1_024
+        case "g", "gb", "gib": multiplier = 1_024 * 1_024 * 1_024
+        default: return nil
+        }
+        return Int64(amount * Double(multiplier))
+    }
+
+    /// Apple Container enforces a 200 MiB minimum container memory size and rejects
+    /// anything smaller with a confusing daemon error. Clamp sub-minimum values up
+    /// to 200 MiB so common Docker values like `mem_limit: 128m` keep working.
+    /// Returns the value to pass to `--memory` and whether it was raised.
+    static func clampMemoryLimit(_ value: String) -> (value: String, clamped: Bool) {
+        let minimumBytes: Int64 = 200 * 1_024 * 1_024
+        if let bytes = parseMemoryToBytes(value), bytes < minimumBytes {
+            return ("200m", true)
+        }
+        return (value, false)
+    }
+
     static func validateStoppedServiceExitCode(_ exitCode: Int32, serviceName: String) throws {
         guard exitCode == 0 else {
             throw ComposeError.containerRunFailed(serviceName, exitCode)
@@ -1049,7 +1089,12 @@ public struct ComposeUp: AsyncParsableCommand, @unchecked Sendable {
         }
         let effectiveMemoryLimit = service.mem_limit ?? service.deploy?.resources?.limits?.memory
         if let memory = effectiveMemoryLimit {
-            runCommandArgs.append(contentsOf: ["--memory", memory])
+            let resolved = resolveVariable(memory, with: environmentVariables)
+            let (memoryArg, didClamp) = Self.clampMemoryLimit(resolved)
+            if didClamp {
+                print("Note: Service '\(serviceName)' mem_limit '\(resolved)' is below Apple Container's 200 MiB minimum; clamping to \(memoryArg).")
+            }
+            runCommandArgs.append(contentsOf: ["--memory", memoryArg])
         }
 
         // Handle service-level configs (note: still only parsing/logging, not attaching)
diff --git a/Tests/Container-Compose-StaticTests/MemLimitExtraHostsTests.swift b/Tests/Container-Compose-StaticTests/MemLimitExtraHostsTests.swift
index b09d812..4ed7d04 100644
--- a/Tests/Container-Compose-StaticTests/MemLimitExtraHostsTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/Container-Compose-StaticTests/MemLimitExtraHostsTests.swift
@@ -150,4 +150,66 @@ struct MemLimitExtraHostsTests {
         let result = ComposeUp.resolveHostGatewayIP()
         #expect(!result.isEmpty)
     }
+
+    // MARK: - memory parsing & clamping
+
+    @Test("parseMemoryToBytes handles byte/k/m/g units (binary)")
+    func parseMemoryUnits() {
+        let kb: Int64 = 1_024
+        let mb: Int64 = 1_024 * 1_024
+        let gb: Int64 = 1_024 * 1_024 * 1_024
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("128m") == 128 * mb)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("2g") == 2 * gb)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("512k") == 512 * kb)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("1024") == kb)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("1gb") == gb)
+    }
+
+    @Test("parseMemoryToBytes is case-insensitive and tolerates whitespace")
+    func parseMemoryCaseInsensitive() {
+        let mb: Int64 = 1_024 * 1_024
+        let gb: Int64 = 1_024 * 1_024 * 1_024
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes(" 256M ") == 256 * mb)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("1GiB") == gb)
+    }
+
+    @Test("parseMemoryToBytes returns nil for garbage")
+    func parseMemoryGarbage() {
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("abc") == nil)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("") == nil)
+        #expect(ComposeUp.parseMemoryToBytes("12x") == nil)
+    }
+
+    @Test("clampMemoryLimit raises sub-200m values to 200m")
+    func clampRaisesSmallValues() {
+        let small = ComposeUp.clampMemoryLimit("128m")
+        #expect(small.value == "200m")
+        #expect(small.clamped == true)
+
+        let bare = ComposeUp.clampMemoryLimit("134217728") // 128 MiB in bytes
+        #expect(bare.value == "200m")
+        #expect(bare.clamped == true)
+    }
+
+    @Test("clampMemoryLimit leaves >=200m values untouched")
+    func clampLeavesLargeValues() {
+        let at = ComposeUp.clampMemoryLimit("200m")
+        #expect(at.value == "200m")
+        #expect(at.clamped == false)
+
+        let over = ComposeUp.clampMemoryLimit("512m")
+        #expect(over.value == "512m")
+        #expect(over.clamped == false)
+
+        let gb = ComposeUp.clampMemoryLimit("1g")
+        #expect(gb.value == "1g")
+        #expect(gb.clamped == false)
+    }
+
+    @Test("clampMemoryLimit passes unparseable values through verbatim")
+    func clampPassesThroughGarbage() {
+        let garbage = ComposeUp.clampMemoryLimit("${UNSET_VAR}")
+        #expect(garbage.value == "${UNSET_VAR}")
+        #expect(garbage.clamped == false)
+    }
 }