Getting Started

This guide gets you from zero to a running OpenDaemon workflow.

1) Prerequisites

• OpenDaemon CLI (dmn) installed and available on your PATH
• A project workspace where you want to orchestrate local services
• Optional: the OpenDaemon VS Code extension for a visual workflow

2) Create dmn.json

Create a dmn.json file in your workspace root:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "services": {
    "database": {
      "command": "docker run --rm -p 5432:5432 -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=dev postgres:15",
      "ready_when": {
        "type": "log_contains",
        "pattern": "database system is ready to accept connections",
        "timeout_seconds": 120
      }
    },
    "backend": {
      "command": "npm run dev",
      "depends_on": ["database"],
      "ready_when": {
        "type": "url_responds",
        "url": "http://localhost:3000/health"
      },
      "env_file": ".env.local"
    }
  }
}

3) Run your services

# start all services
dmn start

# inspect current state
dmn status

# stop all services
dmn stop

4) Verify startup state

Expected status progression:

• Not Started -> Starting -> Running
• If a service exits unexpectedly, OpenDaemon reports Failed (exit code: N)

If a service remains in Starting, check readiness configuration in ready_when (pattern/URL/timeout).

5) Continue with the right interface

• Use CLI Guide for command-level control.
• Use VS Code Extension for tree-view operations and logs.
• Use MCP Integration for AI-driven status/log workflows.