$ export RANCHER_HOST=foo.bar.suf
    $ export RANCHER_PORT=8080
    $ export RANCHER_PROJECT_ID=1a8
    $ export RANCHER_STACK_NAME=killerapp
    $ ./cattle-deploy.py

output:

snapshot epoch is1437634695
created temp file /var/folders/sx/ht6gznq979v5r725sqt7_p617p38sz/T/tmpprzZsd
created temp file /var/folders/sx/ht6gznq979v5r725sqt7_p617p38sz/T/tmpSzspLI
killerapp-lb:
  ports:
  - 16001:5000/tcp
  tty: true
  image: rancher/load-balancer-service
  links:
  - killerapp-1437634695
  stdin_open: true
killerapp-1437634695:
  ports:
  - 5000/tcp
  restart: 'no'
  tty: true
  image: killerapp:latest
  stdin_open: true
killerapp-lb:
  scale: 1
  load_balancer_config:
    name: killerapp-lb config
killerapp-1437634695:
  scale: 2
Calling rancher-compose...
['rancher-compose', '--file', '/var/folders/sx/ht6gznq979v5r725sqt7_p617p38sz/T/tmpprzZsd', '--rancher-file', '/var/folders/sx/ht6gznq979v5r725sqt7_p617p38sz/T/tmpSzspLI', '--project-name', 'killerapp', 'up', '-d']
INFO[0000] Project [killerapp]: Starting project    
INFO[0000] [0/2] [killerapp-1437634695]: Starting   
INFO[0000] Creating service killerapp-1437634695    
INFO[0006] [1/2] [killerapp-1437634695]: Started    
INFO[0006] [1/2] [killerapp-lb]: Starting           
INFO[0007] [2/2] [killerapp-lb]: Started            
delete container service, killerapp-1437628007 (1s32)
removing temp files
orchestration complete


cattle-deploy.py:

#! /usr/bin/env python

from __future__ import print_function

import os
import time
import tempfile
import jinja2
import os,sys
import cattle
from subprocess import call
from urlparse import urlparse

# required environment variables
# RANCHER_ACCESS_KEY
# RANCHER_SECRET_KEY
# RANCHER_HOST
# RANCHER_PORT
# RANCHER_PROJECT_ID
# RANCHER_STACK_NAME

# also expects docker-compose.jinja2.yml and rancher-compose.jinja2.yml

rancher_host = os.environ['RANCHER_HOST']
rancher_port = os.environ['RANCHER_PORT']
stack_name = os.environ['RANCHER_STACK_NAME']
project_id = os.environ['RANCHER_PROJECT_ID']

cattle_url = 'http://' + rancher_host + ':' + rancher_port + '/v1'

# use epoch datetime for service suffix
snapshot_date = str(int(time.time()))
print('snapshot epoch is' + snapshot_date)

# let's connect to rancher first before continuing
client = cattle.Client(url=cattle_url,
                       access_key=os.environ['RANCHER_ACCESS_KEY'],
                       secret_key=os.environ['RANCHER_SECRET_KEY'])

# create temp files for the docker+compose yml
th = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile( delete=False )
th.close()
docker_tfile = th.name
print('created temp file ' + docker_tfile)
th = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile( delete=False )
th.close()
rancher_tfile = th.name
print('created temp file ' + rancher_tfile)

# load up some jinja2
template_loader = jinja2.FileSystemLoader( searchpath=os.getcwd() )
template_env = jinja2.Environment( loader=template_loader )
template_vars = { "app" : { "version": snapshot_date } }

# render for docker-compose.yml
template = template_env.get_template('docker-compose.jinja2.yml')
output_text = template.render( template_vars )
print(output_text, file=open(docker_tfile, 'w'))
print(output_text)

# render for rancher-compose.yml
template = template_env.get_template('rancher-compose.jinja2.yml')
output_text = template.render( template_vars )
print(output_text, file=open(rancher_tfile, 'w'))
print(output_text)

# run rancher-compose
print('Calling rancher-compose...')
rc_cmd = ['rancher-compose', '--file', docker_tfile, '--rancher-file', rancher_tfile, '--project-name', stack_name, 'up', '-d']
print(rc_cmd)
call(rc_cmd)

# get all services for project
services_url = cattle_url + '/' + '/'.join(('projects', project_id, 'services'))
services = client.list_service()

# clean up older api-acme-bank container services
for service in services:
    if stack_name + '-' in service['name'] and service['kind'] == 'service':
        # expects the stack name to be in the image named used by the service
        if stack_name in service['launchConfig']['imageUuid'] and snapshot_date not in service['name']:
            # assume container service is old and should be deleted
            print('delete container service, ' + service['name'] +' (' + service['id'] + ')')
            svc = client.by_id_service(service['id'])
            #client.stop(svc)
            client.delete(svc)

# delete temp yml files
print('removing temp files')
os.remove(docker_tfile)
os.remove(rancher_tfile)

print('orchestration complete')