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magus-server

Manage the magus server: MCP, the console, APIs and background jobs

Synopsis

magus server <start|stop|status|reload> [flags]

Description

Start, stop, reload or check the magus server.

The server is the background process a person asks for. It serves MCP and the console over HTTP, the APIs behind them, background jobs and scheduled maintenance, and keeps each workspace's knowledge graph and symbol indexes current. It keeps workspaces warm, so nested magus calls that forward to it pay for discovery and config once. Nothing starts it but `magus server start` (and `graph export --follow`, which asks for the console by name), and it runs until stopped.

It is not what holds this host's capacity: that is `magus broker`, which a run starts on its own. The server asks the broker like any run does.

The socket address is resolved in priority order: --socket flag > MAGUS_SERVER_ADDRESS env > server.address in magus.yaml > default ($XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/magus/server.sock)

A detached server logs to $XDG_STATE_HOME/magus/server.log; under --foreground it logs to stderr for the supervisor to keep.

Signals: SIGHUP reload configuration, the same as `magus server reload` SIGTERM, SIGINT stop: close the socket, cancel the runs it adopted, and wait up to shutdown_grace (default 5m) for them to unwind a second one exit now

server start options

--foreground
Run in the foreground and block, instead of auto-backgrounding

server stop options

--pools
Stop per-process pool parents whose build differs from this binary (leftover magus mcp / runs), leaving a matching server alone
--socket string
Server socket (default: config / MAGUS_SERVER_ADDRESS / server.sock)

server status options

--socket string
Server socket (default: config / MAGUS_SERVER_ADDRESS / server.sock)

server reload options

--socket string
Server socket (default: config / MAGUS_SERVER_ADDRESS / server.sock)

Subcommands

start
Start the server (auto-backgrounds by default; --foreground blocks)
stop
Send a graceful shutdown request to the running server
status
The server: whether it is up and where you reach it
reload
Re-read configuration without restarting: drop the server's open workspaces

Examples

Start the server (auto-backgrounds)

magus server start

Run the server in the foreground (supervisor or debugging)

magus server start --foreground

Stop the running server

magus server stop

Stop leftover pool parents from an older build

magus server stop --pools

Reload configuration without restarting

magus server reload

Everything running on this host

magus status

Use a custom socket path

magus --server-address unix:///tmp/m.sock server start

See Also

magus(1), magus-ls(1), magus-describe(1), magus-where(1), magus-run(1), magus-affected(1), magus-x(1), magus-clean(1), magus-shell(1), magus-query(1), magus-refs(1), magus-explain(1), magus-path(1), magus-graph(1), magus-diff(1), magus-vcs(1), magus-session(1), magus-job(1), magus-notes(1), magus-queue(1), magus-watch(1), magus-events(1), magus-broker(1), magus-mcp(1), magus-status(1), magus-buzz(1), magus-spell(1), magus-agent(1), magus-init(1), magus-doctor(1), magus-config(1), magus-completion(1), magus-man(1), magus-self(1), magus-version(1)

ManpagePages in this section. MCPmagus serves its tools as a Model Context Protocol server, over stdio for the agent host that launches magus mcp, or over Streamable HTTP from magus server. ChangelogEvery change to magus, newest first, in Keep a Changelog format, starting with the unreleased entries. Generated from changes/unreleased/ and releases/*.yaml. magus commandStandalone build orchestrator and content-addressed cache for polyglot monorepos, with workspace-aware subcommands for build, test, lint, and inspect.
generatedinternal/commands/registry.goclimagus serverservermcpconsolesocketpersistent
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Glossary

Workspace

The magus root directory that owns a set of projects and shared config; the unit magus operates over. Workspace in full.

Op

A single tool-native command a target composes (long form: operation); the middle of the work hierarchy (Spell to Op to Target). Op in full.

Spell

A language/runtime adapter (e.g. go, md) that maps generic targets onto a toolchain's real commands. Spell in full.

Ward

A coded diagnostic that inspects a resolved op and nudges or blocks an anti-pattern before it runs. Ward in full.

Buzz

The language magusfiles are written in (the .buzz engine). Buzz in full.

Affected

The set of projects touched by a change; magus affected <target> runs a target only over them. Affected in full.

Broker

The per-user background process that holds this host's capacity: the machine budget every run claims slots from, and the shared services runs keep warm. A run starts it on demand; broker: off in magus.yaml runs without one. Broker in full.

CI

An ordinary target you compose yourself with ctx.needs; magus does not hardcode its stages. It is the anchor magus affected ci keys off, and ci strips the rw charm. CI in full.

Pool

The concurrency pool: the shared set of slots that caps how many targets run in parallel on one machine. Its capacity defaults to MAGUS_CONCURRENCY, then 4 on GitHub-hosted runners, then min(NumCPU, 8); magus status and the dashboard report it live. Pool in full.

Knowledge graph

The queryable graph of a workspace's spells, targets, docs, and code relationships; query it with magus query/explain/path. Knowledge graph in full.

MAGUS.md

The committed routing index at a workspace root, regenerated from the knowledge graph: it lists every node and points at the exact query for a given question, so it is the entry point an agent reads first. MAGUS.md in full.

Agent

A model working through an agent host such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or OpenCode. magus treats an agent as one more caller of its CLI, MCP tools and console, held to the same checks as a person. Agent in full.

Session

An agent host's conversation, by the id the host delivers to its hooks. magus never mints one: a record with no session is unattributed, and the OS user it carries says whose account ran it. Session in full.

Job

The unit of delegated work, and one row of the job store: what an orchestrating agent handed out, with its goal, the checkpoint it was cut against, the paths it may write or must not touch, and the one check it runs. A job's holder is either a session, for work an orchestrator handed out, or the daemon, for its own maintenance. The store records; the agent guard is what reads those facts back when grading a write. Job in full.

Run

One target executing under one magus invocation, such as magus run test web or magus affected ci. A run keeps its captured output behind an output reference. Every magus run is a run whether or not any job asked for it; see Job for how the two relate. Run in full.

Conventions

This page uses none of the site's convention markers. The full set is on the conventions page.