Daemon Commands

All Cmd+Ctrl daemons share the same CLI structure and commands.

Starting All Daemons at Once

To start all registered daemons in one command – for example after a machine restart:

curl -fsSL https://docs.cmd-ctrl.ai/start.sh | bash

The script detects which daemons are installed and registered, skips any already running, and starts the rest in the background. See Restarting After a Reboot for details.

Updating All Daemons at Once

To update all installed daemons to their latest versions:

curl -fsSL https://docs.cmd-ctrl.ai/update.sh | bash

The script checks each installed daemon against the latest version on npm, updates those that are out of date, and automatically restarts any that were running before the update.

Command Overview

Command	Description
register	Register this device with a Cmd+Ctrl server
unregister	Remove local registration data
start	Start the daemon and connect to the server
stop	Stop the running daemon
status	Check daemon connection status

Commands

register

Register this device with a Cmd+Ctrl server.

cmdctrl-<agent> register [options]

Options:

Option	Description	Default
-s, --server <url>	Cmd+Ctrl server URL	http://localhost:4000
-n, --name <name>	Device name	System hostname

Examples:

# Register with production server
cmdctrl-claude-code register -s https://api.cmd-ctrl.ai

# Register with custom name
cmdctrl-claude-code register -s https://api.cmd-ctrl.ai -n "Work MacBook"

# Register Cursor (defaults to hostname-cursor)
cmdctrl-cursor-ide register -s https://api.cmd-ctrl.ai

Flow:

1. CLI requests a device code from the server
2. Displays a verification URL and code
3. User opens URL in browser and signs in
4. User authorizes the device
5. CLI receives access token and stores it locally

unregister

Remove local registration data.

cmdctrl-<agent> unregister

This removes the local configuration and credentials. The device will still appear in your Cmd+Ctrl account until you delete it from the web interface.

start

Start the daemon and connect to the Cmd+Ctrl server.

cmdctrl-<agent> start [options]

Options:

Option	Description	Default
-f, --foreground	Run in foreground (don't daemonize)	false

Examples:

# Start in background (default)
cmdctrl-claude-code start

# Start in foreground (for debugging or service managers)
cmdctrl-claude-code start -f

Notes:

• The daemon must be registered before starting
• Background mode creates a detached process
• Foreground mode is recommended when running under a service manager (systemd, launchd, PM2)

stop

Stop the running daemon.

cmdctrl-<agent> stop

Sends a termination signal to the daemon process.

status

Check the daemon's registration and connection status.

cmdctrl-<agent> status

Output includes:

• Registration status (registered/not registered)
• Server URL
• Device name
• Device ID
• Connection state (connected/disconnected/not running)

Example output:

Status: Registered
Server: https://api.cmd-ctrl.ai
Device: Work MacBook
ID: dev_abc123xyz
Connection: Connected

Global Options

All commands support:

Option	Description
--version	Show version number
--help	Show help

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Not registered
3	Already running (for start)
4	Not running (for stop)

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
CMDCTRL_SERVER	Default server URL (overrides built-in default)
CMDCTRL_CONFIG_DIR	Override config directory location
CMDCTRL_LOG_LEVEL	Log level: debug, info, warn, error

Configuration Files

Each daemon stores configuration in ~/.<daemon-name>/:

Daemon	Config Directory
Claude Code	~/.cmdctrl-claude-code/
Cursor IDE	~/.cmdctrl-cursor-ide/
Aider	~/.cmdctrl-aider/

Files:

File	Purpose	Permissions
config.json	Server URL, device name, device ID	644
credentials	Access token	600
daemon.pid	PID of running daemon	644

config.json format:

{
  "server": "https://api.cmd-ctrl.ai",
  "deviceName": "Work MacBook",
  "deviceId": "dev_abc123xyz"
}

Daemon-Specific Notes

Claude Code

• Spawns claude CLI processes for sessions
• Requires Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated

Cursor IDE

• Connects to Cursor via Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)
• Requires Cursor running with --remote-debugging-port=9222
• Default CDP port: 9222

Aider

• Uses AgentAPI to manage Aider sessions
• Requires both aider and agentapi in PATH