Lifecycle

These commands manage the full lifecycle of Docker Compose applications registered in the fleet registry.

Root required

All lifecycle commands require root privileges because they interact with systemd.

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fleet deploy

Full deployment pipeline: register the app if needed, build the Docker image, then start or restart the systemd service.

Usage

fleet deploy <app-dir> [--dry-run] [-y]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
app-dir	Yes	Path to the directory containing docker-compose.yml

Flags

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Show what would happen without making changes
-y, --yes	Skip confirmation prompts

Examples

$ fleet deploy /srv/myapp
Deploy Pipeline
Building myapp...
✓ Build complete
Starting myapp...
✓ Deployed myapp

$ fleet deploy /srv/myapp --dry-run
Deploy Pipeline
Would build and deploy myapp
! Dry run - no changes made

What deploy does

1. If the app is not registered, runs fleet add <app-dir> first
2. Runs docker compose build in the compose directory
3. If the systemd service is already active, restarts it; otherwise starts it

Related

• MCP tool: fleet_deploy

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fleet start

Start an app’s systemd service.

Usage

fleet start <app>

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
app	Yes	App name (as registered in the registry)

Examples

$ fleet start myapp
✓ Started myapp

Related

• MCP tool: fleet_start

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fleet stop

Stop an app’s systemd service.

Usage

fleet stop <app>

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
app	Yes	App name

Examples

$ fleet stop myapp
✓ Stopped myapp

Related

• MCP tool: fleet_stop

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fleet restart

Restart an app’s systemd service.

Usage

fleet restart <app>

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
app	Yes	App name

Examples

$ fleet restart myapp
✓ Restarted myapp

Related

• MCP tool: fleet_restart

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fleet add

Register an existing Docker Compose app in the fleet registry without deploying or building it. Creates a systemd service unit if one does not already exist.

Usage

fleet add <app-dir> [--dry-run] [-y]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
app-dir	Yes	Path to the directory containing docker-compose.yml

Flags

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Show what would be registered without writing anything
-y, --yes	Skip the confirmation prompt for creating a systemd service

Examples

$ fleet add /srv/myapp
Registering myapp from /srv/myapp
Compose path: /srv/myapp
Found containers: myapp-web-1, myapp-db-1
✓ Registered myapp

Fleet derives the app name from the directory name (lowercased, non-alphanumeric characters replaced with -). It looks for docker-compose.yml in the given directory or a server/ subdirectory.

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fleet remove

Stop, disable, and deregister an app. The systemd service file is not deleted automatically.

Usage

fleet remove <app> [-y]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
app	Yes	App name

Flags

Flag	Description
-y, --yes	Skip the confirmation prompt

Examples

$ fleet remove myapp
? Remove myapp? This will stop and disable the service. (y/N) y
Stopping myapp...
Disabling myapp...
✓ Removed myapp from registry
! Service file not deleted - remove manually if needed

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fleet init

Auto-discover all Docker Compose apps on the server and register them. Useful when first setting up fleet on a server with existing apps.

Usage

fleet init

Fleet scans common directories for docker-compose.yml files and calls fleet add for each one found.