CLI Commands Reference

PMDaemon provides a comprehensive command-line interface with PM2-compatible commands plus enhanced features. This reference covers all available commands with examples and options.

Global Options

These options work with all commands:

pmdaemon [GLOBAL_OPTIONS] <COMMAND> [COMMAND_OPTIONS]

Option	Description	Example
`--verbose`, `-v`	Enable verbose logging	`pmdaemon --verbose start app.js`
`--config`, `-c`	Configuration file path	`pmdaemon --config ecosystem.json start`
`--help`, `-h`	Show help information	`pmdaemon --help`
`--version`, `-V`	Show version information	`pmdaemon --version`

Process Management Commands

`start` - Start a Process

Start a new process with optional configuration.

pmdaemon start [SCRIPT] [OPTIONS]

Basic Usage

# Start a simple process
pmdaemon start "node server.js" --name web-app

# Start from config file
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.json start

# Start specific app from config
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.json start --name api-server

Options

Option	Type	Description	Example
`--name`, `-n`	String	Process name (required)	`--name web-app`
`--instances`, `-i`	Number	Number of instances	`--instances 4`
`--port`, `-p`	String	Port configuration	`--port 3000-3003`
`--cwd`	Path	Working directory	`--cwd /path/to/app`
`--env`, `-e`	String	Environment variables	`--env NODE_ENV=production`
`--max-memory`	String	Memory limit	`--max-memory 512M`
`--max-restarts`	Number	Maximum restart attempts	`--max-restarts 10`
`--min-uptime`	Duration	Minimum uptime before stable	`--min-uptime 5s`
`--restart-delay`	Duration	Delay between restarts	`--restart-delay 2s`
`--kill-timeout`	Duration	Graceful shutdown timeout	`--kill-timeout 30s`

Advanced Examples

# Production cluster with health checks
pmdaemon start "node api.js" \
  --name prod-api \
  --instances 4 \
  --port auto:3000-3100 \
  --max-memory 1G \
  --wait-ready \
  --env NODE_ENV=production

# Python microservice
pmdaemon start "python -m uvicorn main:app" \
  --name python-api \
  --port 8000 \
  --max-memory 512M \
  --cwd /path/to/api

# Background worker with custom restart behavior
pmdaemon start "python worker.py" \
  --name background-worker \
  --max-restarts 5 \
  --min-uptime 10s \
  --restart-delay 5s \
  --max-memory 256M

`stop` - Stop a Process

Stop one or more running processes.

pmdaemon stop <IDENTIFIER>

Examples

# Stop by name
pmdaemon stop web-app

# Stop by ID
pmdaemon stop 0

# Stop all processes
pmdaemon stop all

`restart` - Restart a Process

Restart a process with optional port override.

pmdaemon restart <IDENTIFIER> [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Type	Description	Example
`--port`, `-p`	String	Override port configuration	`--port 3001`

Examples

# Standard restart
pmdaemon restart web-app

# Restart with new port (doesn't modify saved config)
pmdaemon restart web-app --port 3001

# Restart with port range for clustering
pmdaemon restart web-app --port 4000-4003

# Restart all processes
pmdaemon restart all

`reload` - Graceful Reload

Perform zero-downtime restart using graceful reload.

pmdaemon reload <IDENTIFIER> [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Type	Description	Example
`--port`, `-p`	String	Override port configuration	`--port 3001`

Examples

# Graceful reload
pmdaemon reload web-app

# Reload with new port configuration
pmdaemon reload web-app --port 4000-4003

`delete` - Delete Processes

Delete processes with enhanced bulk and status-based operations.

pmdaemon delete <IDENTIFIER> [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Type	Description	Example
`--status`	Flag	Delete by status	`--status`
`--force`, `-f`	Flag	Skip confirmation prompts	`--force`

Examples

# Delete single process
pmdaemon delete web-app

# Delete all processes
pmdaemon delete all --force

# Delete by status
pmdaemon delete stopped --status
pmdaemon delete errored --status --force
pmdaemon delete starting --status

# Interactive deletion (with confirmation)
pmdaemon delete all

Valid Status Values

starting - Processes currently starting up
online - Running processes
stopping - Processes currently shutting down
stopped - Processes that have exited
errored - Processes that crashed or failed
restarting - Processes currently restarting

Monitoring Commands

`list` - List Processes

Display all processes with detailed information.

pmdaemon list

Output Columns

ID - Process identifier
Name - Process name
Status - Current state with color coding
PID - System process ID
Port - Assigned port(s)
CPU - CPU usage percentage
Memory - Memory usage (RSS)
Uptime - How long the process has been running
Restarts - Number of restarts

Example Output

┌────┬─────────────┬────────┬───────┬──────┬─────────┬──────────┬─────────┬──────────┐
│ ID │ Name        │ Status │ PID   │ Port │ CPU (%) │ Memory   │ Uptime  │ Restarts │
├────┼─────────────┼────────┼───────┼──────┼─────────┼──────────┼─────────┼──────────┤
│ 0  │ web-app     │ 🟢 Online │ 1234  │ 3000 │ 2.5     │ 45.2 MB  │ 2h 15m  │ 0        │
│ 1  │ api-server  │ 🟢 Online │ 1235  │ 8000 │ 1.8     │ 32.1 MB  │ 1h 45m  │ 1        │
│ 2  │ worker      │ 🔴 Stopped │ -     │ -    │ -       │ -        │ -       │ 3        │
└────┴─────────────┴────────┴───────┴──────┴─────────┴──────────┴─────────┴──────────┘

`monit` - Real-time Monitoring

Display real-time process monitoring with system metrics.

pmdaemon monit [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Type	Description	Example
`--interval`, `-i`	Number	Update interval in seconds	`--interval 5`

Examples

# Default monitoring (1-second updates)
pmdaemon monit

# Custom update interval
pmdaemon monit --interval 5

# Fast updates for debugging
pmdaemon monit --interval 0.5

Features

Real-time updates with configurable intervals
Color-coded status indicators
System overview (CPU, memory, load average)
Process metrics (CPU, memory, uptime)
Beautiful table formatting
Keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+C to exit)

`logs` - View Process Logs

View and follow process logs with filtering options.

pmdaemon logs <IDENTIFIER> [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Type	Description	Example
`--lines`, `-n`	Number	Number of lines to show	`--lines 100`
`--follow`, `-f`	Flag	Follow logs in real-time	`--follow`
`--error`	Flag	Show only error logs	`--error`

Examples

# View recent logs (default: 20 lines)
pmdaemon logs web-app

# View more lines
pmdaemon logs web-app --lines 100

# Follow logs in real-time
pmdaemon logs web-app --follow

# View only error logs
pmdaemon logs web-app --error

# Follow error logs
pmdaemon logs web-app --error --follow

`info` - Process Information

Get detailed information about a specific process.

pmdaemon info <IDENTIFIER>

Example Output

{
  "id": 0,
  "name": "web-app",
  "status": "online",
  "pid": 1234,
  "port": "3000",
  "cpu_usage": 2.5,
  "memory_usage": 47448064,
  "uptime": "2h 15m 30s",
  "restarts": 0,
  "config": {
    "script": "node",
    "args": ["server.js"],
    "instances": 1,
    "max_memory_restart": 536870912,
    "env": {
      "NODE_ENV": "production",
      "PORT": "3000"
    }
  },
  "health_check": {
    "enabled": true,
    "status": "healthy",
    "last_check": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
  }
}

Web API Commands

`web` - Start Web Server

Start the web API server for remote monitoring and management.

pmdaemon web [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Type	Description	Default	Example
`--port`, `-p`	Number	Web server port	9615	`--port 8080`
`--host`, `-h`	String	Bind address	127.0.0.1	`--host 0.0.0.0`
`--api-key`	String	API key for authentication	None	`--api-key "secret123"`

Examples

# Start with default settings (no authentication)
pmdaemon web

# With API key authentication (recommended for production)
pmdaemon web --api-key "your-secret-api-key"

# Custom port and host with authentication
pmdaemon web --port 8080 --host 0.0.0.0 --api-key "$API_KEY"

# Environment variable for API key
export PMDAEMON_API_KEY="your-secret-key"
pmdaemon web --host 0.0.0.0

Available Endpoints

Once started, the web server provides:

REST API at http://host:port/api/
WebSocket at ws://host:port/ws
API documentation at http://host:port/

Configuration Commands

Using Configuration Files

PMDaemon supports ecosystem configuration files in multiple formats:

# JSON format
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.json start

# YAML format  
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.yaml start

# TOML format
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.toml start

Start All Apps from Config

# Start all apps defined in config file
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.json start

Start Specific App from Config

# Start only the specified app
pmdaemon --config ecosystem.json start --name web-server

Exit Codes

PMDaemon uses standard exit codes for scripting:

Code	Meaning	Description
0	Success	Command completed successfully
1	General Error	Command failed due to an error
2	Invalid Usage	Invalid command line arguments
3	Process Not Found	Specified process doesn't exist
4	Configuration Error	Invalid configuration file or options
5	Permission Error	Insufficient permissions
130	Interrupted	Command interrupted by user (Ctrl+C)

Command Aliases

Some commands have shorter aliases for convenience:

Full Command	Alias	Example
`pmdaemon start`	`pmdaemon s`	`pmdaemon s app.js --name web`
`pmdaemon stop`	`pmdaemon st`	`pmdaemon st web`
`pmdaemon restart`	`pmdaemon r`	`pmdaemon r web`
`pmdaemon list`	`pmdaemon ls`	`pmdaemon ls`
`pmdaemon delete`	`pmdaemon del`	`pmdaemon del web`

Best Practices

1. Use Descriptive Names

# Good
pmdaemon start "node api.js" --name api-server-prod

# Avoid
pmdaemon start "node app.js" --name app

2. Set Resource Limits

pmdaemon start "node server.js" \
  --name web-app \
  --max-memory 1G \
  --max-restarts 10

3. Use Process Management for Critical Services

pmdaemon start "node api.js" \
  --name critical-api \
  --max-restarts 10 \
  --wait-ready

4. Use Configuration Files for Complex Setups

# Better than long command lines
pmdaemon --config production.json start

Next Steps

Configuration Options - Detailed configuration reference
Environment Variables - Environment variable usage
Examples - Real-world usage examples

This CLI reference provides comprehensive coverage of all PMDaemon commands. For specific use cases and advanced configurations, see the examples and feature documentation.

Global Options​

Process Management Commands​

start - Start a Process​

Basic Usage​

Options​

Advanced Examples​

stop - Stop a Process​

Examples​

restart - Restart a Process​

Options​

Examples​

reload - Graceful Reload​

Options​

Examples​

delete - Delete Processes​

Options​

Examples​

Valid Status Values​

Monitoring Commands​

list - List Processes​

Output Columns​

Example Output​

monit - Real-time Monitoring​

Options​

Examples​

Features​

logs - View Process Logs​

Options​

Examples​

info - Process Information​

Example Output​

Web API Commands​

web - Start Web Server​

Options​

Examples​

Available Endpoints​

Configuration Commands​

Using Configuration Files​

Start All Apps from Config​

Start Specific App from Config​

Exit Codes​

Command Aliases​

Best Practices​

1. Use Descriptive Names​

2. Set Resource Limits​

3. Use Process Management for Critical Services​

4. Use Configuration Files for Complex Setups​

Next Steps​

Global Options

Process Management Commands

`start` - Start a Process

Basic Usage

Options

Advanced Examples

`stop` - Stop a Process

Examples

`restart` - Restart a Process

Options

Examples

`reload` - Graceful Reload

Options

Examples

`delete` - Delete Processes

Options

Examples

Valid Status Values

Monitoring Commands

`list` - List Processes

Output Columns

Example Output

`monit` - Real-time Monitoring

Options

Examples

Features

`logs` - View Process Logs

Options

Examples

`info` - Process Information

Example Output

Web API Commands

`web` - Start Web Server

Options

Examples

Available Endpoints

Configuration Commands

Using Configuration Files

Start All Apps from Config

Start Specific App from Config

Exit Codes

Command Aliases

Best Practices

1. Use Descriptive Names

2. Set Resource Limits

3. Use Process Management for Critical Services

4. Use Configuration Files for Complex Setups

Next Steps