Embodiments associate software applications with computing resource containers based on placement rules. A placement rule indicates that a first software application is to be co-located with a second software application during execution of the first and second software applications, or that the first software application is to be separated from the second software application during execution of the first and second software applications. A target computing resource container is selected based on the placement rule and a computing resource container that is associated with the first software application. The second software application is associated with the target computing resource container, and the placement rule may be provided to the target computing resource container.