Server Lifecycle

The CLI manages an Ash server running in a Docker container. These commands handle the full lifecycle: start, stop, status, and logs.

ash start

Starts the Ash server in a Docker container.

ash start

The command:

1. Checks that Docker is installed and running
2. Removes any stale stopped container
3. Creates the data directory (~/.ash/)
4. Pulls the latest image (unless --no-pull)
5. Starts the container with port mapping and volume mounts
6. Waits for the health endpoint to respond (up to 30 seconds)

Options

Flag	Description	Default
--port <port>	Host port to expose	4100
--tag <tag>	Docker image tag	Latest published version
--image <image>	Full Docker image name (overrides default + tag)	ghcr.io/ash-ai/ash
--no-pull	Skip pulling the image; use a local build	Pull enabled
--database-url <url>	PostgreSQL/CockroachDB connection URL	SQLite (default)
-e, --env <KEY=VALUE>	Extra env vars to pass to the container (repeatable)	None

Examples

# Start with defaults
ash start

# Use a local dev image
ash start --image ash-dev --no-pull

# Use a specific port
ash start --port 8080

# Use Postgres instead of SQLite
ash start --database-url "postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/ash"

# Pass extra env vars
ash start -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Output

Starting Ash server...
Waiting for server to be ready...
Ash server is running.
  URL:      http://localhost:4100
  API key:  ash_xxxxxxxx (saved to ~/.ash/config.json)
  Data dir: /Users/you/.ash

The server auto-generates a secure API key on first start and the CLI saves it to ~/.ash/config.json. Subsequent CLI commands use this key automatically.

ash stop

Stops the running Ash server container.

ash stop

Stopping Ash server...
Ash server stopped.

If no container is found, prints a message and exits.

ash status

Shows the current state of the Ash server container and, if running, its health stats.

ash status

Example Output

Container: running
  ID:    a1b2c3d4e5f6
  Image: ghcr.io/ash-ai/ash:0.1.0
  Active sessions:  3
  Active sandboxes: 2
  Uptime:           1234s

When the container is stopped:

Container: exited
  ID:    a1b2c3d4e5f6
  Image: ghcr.io/ash-ai/ash:0.1.0

When no container exists:

Container: not-found

ash logs

Shows logs from the Ash server container.

ash logs

Options

Flag	Description
-f, --follow	Follow log output (like tail -f)

Examples

# Show recent logs
ash logs

# Follow logs in real time
ash logs --follow