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CLI Overview

The Go Overlay CLI provides a powerful interface for managing and monitoring services running under the supervisor daemon. The CLI communicates with the daemon process through Inter-Process Communication (IPC), allowing you to control services from any terminal session.

How It Works

The Go Overlay CLI uses IPC (Inter-Process Communication) to communicate with the running daemon process. When you execute a CLI command, it:

  1. Connects to the daemon's IPC socket
  2. Sends the command request
  3. Receives the response from the daemon
  4. Displays the formatted output

This architecture allows the CLI to be lightweight and fast, as all the heavy lifting is done by the daemon process.

Auto-Installation

When you run Go Overlay in daemon mode for the first time, it can automatically install itself to a system location and add itself to your PATH. This enables you to use the CLI commands from anywhere in your system without specifying the full path to the binary.

The auto-installation process:

  • Copies the binary to /go-overlay (or a configured location)
  • Makes the binary executable
  • Allows you to run commands like go-overlay list from any directory

Manual Installation

If auto-installation doesn't work in your environment, you can manually copy the binary to a location in your PATH or use the full path to the binary when running commands.

CLI vs Daemon Mode

Go Overlay operates in two distinct modes:

  • Daemon Mode: The main process that manages and monitors services
  • CLI Mode: Client commands that communicate with the daemon

When you run go-overlay without arguments or with the daemon flag, it starts in daemon mode. All other commands operate in CLI mode and require a running daemon to function.

Prerequisites

To use the CLI commands, you must have:

  1. A running Go Overlay daemon process
  2. The Go Overlay binary installed and accessible in your PATH
  3. Proper permissions to communicate with the daemon's IPC socket

Next Steps