CLI (handwritten backup)

All commands use the --config flag for server config (default: /etc/simpledeploy/config.yaml). Remote commands use the active context from ~/.simpledeploy/config.yaml.

Server Commands

simpledeploy serve

Start the SimpleDeploy server.

simpledeploy serve --config /etc/simpledeploy/config.yaml

Starts: reverse proxy (Caddy), management API, reconciler watcher, metrics collector, backup scheduler, alert evaluator.

simpledeploy init

Generate a default config file.

simpledeploy init --config /etc/simpledeploy/config.yaml

App Management

simpledeploy apply

Deploy apps from compose files.

# Single app
simpledeploy apply -f docker-compose.yml --name myapp

# All apps in directory
simpledeploy apply -d ./apps/

Copies the compose file to the server’s apps directory and triggers deployment.

Flag	Short	Required	Description
--file	-f	with —name	Compose file path
--dir	-d	alt to -f	Directory of app subdirectories
--name		with -f	App name/slug

simpledeploy remove

Remove a deployed app.

simpledeploy remove --name myapp

Stops containers, removes network, deletes from store and apps directory.

simpledeploy list

List deployed apps with status.

simpledeploy list

Output:

NAME                 STATUS     DOMAIN
myapp                running    myapp.example.com
postgres             running

simpledeploy logs

Stream container logs.

simpledeploy logs myapp
simpledeploy logs myapp --follow=false --tail 50 --service db

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--follow	-f	true	Follow log output
--tail		100	Number of historical lines
--service		web	Compose service name

Remote Client Commands

simpledeploy context

Manage remote server connections.

# Add a context
simpledeploy context add production --url https://manage.example.com --api-key sd_...

# Switch context
simpledeploy context use staging

# List contexts (* = active)
simpledeploy context list

simpledeploy pull

Export remote app config to local files.

simpledeploy pull --app myapp -o ./
simpledeploy pull --all -o ./apps/

Downloads compose files from the remote server.

simpledeploy diff

Compare local config vs remote state.

simpledeploy diff --app myapp
simpledeploy diff -d ./apps/

Shows line-by-line differences between local compose files and remote.

simpledeploy sync

Sync a local directory to the remote server.

simpledeploy sync -d ./apps/

Deploys new/changed apps and removes apps not present locally.

Backup Commands

simpledeploy backup run

Trigger an immediate backup.

simpledeploy backup run --app myapp

simpledeploy backup list

List backup runs for an app.

simpledeploy backup list --app myapp

simpledeploy restore

Restore from a backup.

simpledeploy restore --app myapp --id 42

User Management

simpledeploy users

Manage users (requires direct database access).

# Create user
simpledeploy users create --username admin --password secret --role super_admin

# List users
simpledeploy users list

# Delete user
simpledeploy users delete --id 2

Roles: super_admin (full access), admin (per-app access), viewer (read-only per-app).

simpledeploy apikey

Manage API keys.

# Create key (prints plaintext once)
simpledeploy apikey create --name "claude-code" --user-id 1

# List keys
simpledeploy apikey list --user-id 1

# Revoke key
simpledeploy apikey revoke --id 3

API keys authenticate CLI and API requests via Authorization: Bearer sd_... header.

Registry Management

simpledeploy registry

Manage private container registry credentials.

# Add a registry
simpledeploy registry add --name ghcr-org --url ghcr.io --username myuser --password mytoken

# List registries
simpledeploy registry list

# Remove a registry
simpledeploy registry remove ghcr-org

Subcommand	Description
add	Add registry credentials (encrypted with master_secret)
list	List configured registries with decrypted usernames
remove	Remove a registry by name

registry add flags

Flag	Required	Description
--name	Yes	Registry identifier (referenced in config/labels)
--url	Yes	Registry URL (e.g., ghcr.io, 123456.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com)
--username	Yes	Registry username
--password	Yes	Registry password or token

Credentials are encrypted with AES-256-GCM using the master_secret from config.

Config Sidecar Commands

simpledeploy config export

Write all config sidecars from the current DB state to disk. Useful to verify sidecar content or backfill after a manual DB edit.

simpledeploy config export

See Config sidecars for the file layout.

simpledeploy config import

Rebuild the DB from on-disk sidecars. Normally auto-recovery on startup handles this; use this command when you want to force an import into a non-empty DB.

simpledeploy config import --force --wipe

Flag	Description
--force	Required to import into a non-empty DB
--wipe	Truncate config tables before importing (destructive)

Git Sync Commands

simpledeploy git status

Show current git sync status: remote, branch, last sync time, and any recent conflicts.

simpledeploy git status

simpledeploy git sync-now

Trigger an immediate pull-and-apply cycle without waiting for the next poll interval.

simpledeploy git sync-now

See Git sync for setup.

Utility Commands

simpledeploy version

Print version, commit hash, and build date.

simpledeploy version
# simpledeploy 1.2.0 (commit: abc1234, built: 2026-04-08T18:00:00Z)

Global Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--config	/etc/simpledeploy/config.yaml	Server config file path
--help		Show help