My workaround

I found a workaround: using the docker-compose.exe instead of the docker compose command. To do this, I had to add its path to the environment variables.

Workaround

x(DIR, {
   PATH: process.env.Path + 'C:\\Program Files\\Docker\\Docker\\resources\\bin;',
},`docker-compose -f=${p(DOCKER_COMPOSE_YML)} ${args.join(' ')}`) 

Previous version (for comparison)

await x(DIR, {}, `docker compose -f ${p(DOCKER_COMPOSE_YML)} up`)

I would still be pleased if someone could make me understand what is wrong.