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Application management

The application management commands allow you to start, stop, or restart applications managed by the coordinator. When the --alias parameter is omitted, the operation is performed on all applications available on the server.

Concurrent operations​

The coordinator runs only one operation at a time, no matter if it is started from the CLI or from the UI:

CommandRuns while another operation is in progress?
pct stop without --alias (also stopping a workspace from the UI)Yes, it has priority. It cancels the operation that is in progress, waits until it ends and then stops the applications. A second stop is rejected while the first one is running.
pct stop with --alias (also stopping a single application from the UI)Yes. It is never blocked.
Every other command: pct start, pct restart, pct upgrade, starting a workspace from the UI, and starting a single application from the UINo. It is rejected while any other operation is in progress. pct start and pct restart without --alias are also rejected while any application is still stopping.

pct upgrade (with or without --alias) is also rejected when any application it would upgrade is neither running nor stopped, for example while it is starting, stopping or in a failure status. Bring such applications to the running or stopped status first, for example with pct stop --alias <app-alias>, and then run the upgrade again.

A rejected command ends with a message explaining why. Run it again when the other operation has finished.

Start​

Starts one application or all applications.

pct start [-a|--alias <app-alias>]

Parameters:

  • -a/--alias: Optional application alias. When provided, the operation is limited to the specified application. When omitted, all applications are started.

Validation (CLI):

  • Alias: Lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only; maximum length 40 characters.

Examples​

  1. Start all applications

    pct start

  2. Start a specific application

    pct start --alias app-name

Stop​

Stops one application or all applications.

Applications in a failure status are stopped as well. If any of their processes are still running, the coordinator terminates them.

pct stop [-a|--alias <app-alias>]

Parameters:

  • -a/--alias: Optional application alias. When provided, the operation is limited to the specified application. When omitted, all applications are stopped.

Validation (CLI):

  • Alias: Lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only; maximum length 40 characters.

Examples​

  1. Stop all applications

    pct stop

  2. Stop a specific application

    pct stop --alias app-name

Restart​

Restarts one application or all applications. When restarting all applications, the command performs a stop → start sequence by first attempting to stop all applications and then starting them again. Only if all applications stopped successfully the start operations will be performed.

pct restart [-a|--alias <app-alias>]

Parameters:

  • -a/--alias: Optional application alias. When provided, the operation is limited to the specified application. When omitted, all applications are restarted.

Validation (CLI):

  • Alias: Lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only; maximum length 40 characters.

Examples​

  1. Restart all applications

    pct restart

  2. Restart a specific application

    pct restart --alias app-name

CLI output and exit codes​

After each command completes, the CLI displays the operation result.

  • Green — The requested operation completed successfully.
  • Red — The operation failed because of a coordinator, HTTP, or network error.

Exit code:

  • 0 — Operation completed successfully.
  • 1 — Operation failed.

Detailed error information is available in the coordinator logs.