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start

Launch managed processes in one of three modes:
  • manifest services (sysg start)
  • units (sysg start <command...>)
  • child units (sysg start --child --parent-pid <pid> -- <command...>)
$ sysg start

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Options

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--config

Path to the configuration file. If not specified, systemg looks for systemg.yaml or sysg.yaml in the current directory. 
$ sysg start --config /etc/myapp/services.yaml

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--service

Optionally start only the named service instead of all services. 
$ sysg start --service api

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--name

Optional name for units or child-start units. 
$ sysg start --name cleanup -- ./cleanup.sh

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--daemonize

Run the supervisor as a background daemon. The supervisor continues running after you close your terminal, and subsequent commands communicate with it via Unix socket. 
$ sysg start --daemonize

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--parent-pid

Run start in child mode by attaching the process to a parent service PID. 
$ sysg start --parent-pid 4242 --name worker-1 -- python worker.py

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--ttl

Optional time-to-live in seconds for child mode. 
$ sysg start --parent-pid 4242 --ttl 300 --name temp-worker -- ./job.sh

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--child

Explicit child-mode marker. Requires --parent-pid. 
$ sysg start --child --parent-pid 4242 --name worker-1 -- python worker.py

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--sys

Opt into privileged system mode. Requires running as root. 
$ sudo sysg start --sys

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--drop-privileges

Drop child service privileges during spawn. When enabled in root/system mode, services without an explicit user run as nobody. 
$ sudo sysg start --sys --drop-privileges

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--stderr

Pipe stderr output from supervised processes to stdout. In foreground mode, stderr from all services is redirected to stdout with [service_name:stderr] prefix. 
$ sysg start --stderr
:::info The --stderr flag is particularly useful for:
  • Development: See error output immediately while debugging
  • CI/CD Pipelines: Capture all output in a single stream
  • Real-time Monitoring: Watch for errors as they happen
Note: This flag only affects foreground mode. In daemonized mode, stderr is still written to log files in ~/.local/share/systemg/logs/. :::

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--log-level

Set logging verbosity for this invocation. Accepts named levels (trace, debug, info, warn, error, off) or numeric values (5-0). 
$ sysg start --log-level debug

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Examples

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Start with default configuration

$ sysg start
Looks for systemg.yaml or sysg.yaml in the current directory.

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Start with specific configuration

$ sysg start --config /etc/myapp/services.yaml

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Daemon mode

Run the supervisor in the background. Subsequent commands communicate with this long-lived process. 
$ sysg start --daemonize
Check if the daemon is running: 
$ sysg status

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Debug mode

See detailed output during startup: 
$ sysg start --log-level debug

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Capture stderr in foreground

Useful for development and debugging: 
$ sysg start --stderr
Output will show stderr lines with service prefix: 
[api:stderr] Error: Database connection failed
[worker:stderr] Warning: Queue full, retrying...

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Unit mode (no config file)

$ sysg start --daemonize -- sleep 30
If the supervisor is already running, this command stages a unit config in ~/.local/share/systemg/units/ and prints an explicit restart command. It does not restart the supervisor implicitly.

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Child mode for orchestrators (replacement for spawn)

$ sysg start --parent-pid 4242 --name worker-1 --ttl 900 -- python worker.py

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What happens

  1. Manifest mode starts services in dependency order
  2. Unit mode creates a single managed unit from the command
  3. Child mode attaches a managed child to the parent process tree
  4. Logs are written to ~/.local/share/systemg/logs/
  5. PIDs are tracked for other commands
In daemon mode, the supervisor monitors services and handles restarts according to your configuration.

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See also

  • stop - Stop running services
  • status - Check service health
  • restart - Restart services