diff --git a/internal/compose/port.go b/internal/compose/port.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ff2b0108
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/compose/port.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package compose
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/compose-spec/compose-go/v2/types"
+	"uncloud/internal/api"
+)
+
+const PortsExtensionKey = "x-ports"
+
+type PortsSource []string
+
+// TransformServicesPortsExtension transforms the ports extension of all services in the project by replacing a string
+// representation of each port with a parsed PortSpec.
+func transformServicesPortsExtension(project *types.Project) error {
+	for name, service := range project.Services {
+		ports, ok := service.Extensions[PortsExtensionKey].(PortsSource)
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		specs, err := transformPortsExtension(ports)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		service.Extensions[PortsExtensionKey] = specs
+		project.Services[name] = service
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func transformPortsExtension(ports PortsSource) ([]api.PortSpec, error) {
+	var specs []api.PortSpec
+	for _, port := range ports {
+		spec, err := api.ParsePortSpec(port)
+		if err != nil {
+			return specs, fmt.Errorf("parse port %q: %w", port, err)
+		}
+		specs = append(specs, spec)
+	}
+
+	return specs, nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/compose/project.go b/internal/compose/project.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7e38f298
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/compose/project.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+package compose
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	composecli "github.com/compose-spec/compose-go/v2/cli"
+	"github.com/compose-spec/compose-go/v2/types"
+)
+
+func LoadProject(ctx context.Context, paths []string) (*types.Project, error) {
+	options, err := composecli.NewProjectOptions(
+		paths,
+		// First apply os.Environment, always wins.
+		composecli.WithOsEnv,
+		// Read dot env file to populate project environment.
+		composecli.WithDotEnv,
+		// Get compose file path set by COMPOSE_FILE.
+		composecli.WithConfigFileEnv,
+		// If none was selected, get default compose.yaml file from current dir or parent folders.
+		composecli.WithDefaultConfigPath,
+		composecli.WithExtension("x-ports", PortsSource{}),
+	)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("create compose parser options: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	project, err := options.LoadProject(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	if err = transformServicesPortsExtension(project); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return project, nil
+}