mdp

Starts the orchestrator with an interactive TUI. Manages all proxy instances and shows their registered services.

Keys: ↑/↓ (or j/k) navigate, Enter switch active server, Tab/Shift+Tab (or ←/→, 1-4) switch tabs, / filter rows (Esc clears), x stop the selected service (with confirmation; unavailable for externally managed processes), d detach (leave daemon running), q quit (stop daemon). Mouse is supported: click to select/activate, hover to highlight, wheel to scroll.

The Logs tab tails the daemon log and any detached mdp run logs: f toggles follow, [/] switch sources, / filters lines.

mdp
mdp --control-port 13100

A web dashboard is also served on --dashboard-port (default 6370) — open http://localhost:6370 if you prefer a browser UI to the TUI.

mdp --daemon / mdp -d

Starts the orchestrator as a background daemon (no TUI). Useful for CI or when you don't need the interactive interface.

mdp -d
# prints: mdp orchestrator started (PID 12345, ctrl :13100)

mdp run

Wraps a dev command. Picks a free port, sets it as an environment variable in the child process, and registers with the orchestrator. When the process exits, it deregisters automatically.

mdp run -- npm run dev
mdp run -P 4000 -- go run ./cmd/server
mdp run --env API_PORT -- docker compose up

Without a command, reads mdp.yaml and batch-starts all configured services:

mdp run                        # uses current git branch as group
mdp run --group feature-auth   # override group name
mdp run -i                     # prompt for declared inputs (e.g. cross-repo branch names)
mdp run --service api          # start only `api` (and its depends_on)
mdp run --service api,worker   # start a subset (also accepts repeated --service)
MDP_SERVICES=api,worker mdp run  # same, via env var (flag wins if both are set)

Add -i to prompt for the inputs: declared in mdp.yaml — handy for choosing a peer's branch interactively instead of typing --link repo=branch. Without -i, inputs use their defaults (an input with no default errors). With -i, each input is prompted through an interactive terminal UI (arrow keys to browse pick-lists, typing for free text) — this requires both stdin and stderr to be a real terminal (it reads keys from stdin and renders to stderr); it errors if either is piped or redirected.

The --service selector restricts batch mode to a subset of the services declared in mdp.yaml. Names must match the service keys in the file; transitive depends_on entries are auto-included so dependency waits still work. Empty/unset = start everything (default).

When a command is given, mdp run picks its mode in this order:

1. Orchestrator mode — if an orchestrator is running on --control-port, register with it.
2. Standalone proxy mode — otherwise, probe --proxy-port for a bare mdp proxy (no orchestrator) and register with it if found.
3. Solo mode — otherwise, run the command directly with no proxy.

Batch mode (mdp run with no command) requires an orchestrator — it errors out if one isn't running.

mdp register

Manually registers an already-running service.

mdp register myapp/main --port 4000 -P 3000
mdp register myapp/main --port 4000 --pid 12345
mdp register --list

mdp deregister

Remove a server from all proxies. Useful when an externally managed service (e.g. Docker) stops without notifying the orchestrator.

mdp deregister myapp/main

mdp switch

Switch active upstream service or group from the command line. See how switching works for the resolution order.

mdp switch app/main -P 3000          # switch individual server
mdp switch --group main              # switch all services in a group
mdp switch --clear -P 3000           # clear default

mdp status

Print daemon status, proxies, registered servers, and groups. Add --json for machine-readable output.

mdp status
mdp status --json

mdp logs

Show the daemon's log output. Defaults to the last 50 lines; use -f to follow.

mdp logs
mdp logs -n 200
mdp logs -f

mdp stop

Stop the background orchestrator.

mdp stop

mdp --stop still works but is deprecated in favor of mdp stop.

Configuration

Environment variables:

**mdp flags:**

**mdp run flags:**

**mdp register flags:**

**mdp switch flags:**

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