CLI Reference

The yerd command is a thin client that talks to the yerdd daemon over a local IPC socket. Almost every subcommand maps to exactly one daemon request: yerd validates your arguments locally, sends the request, and renders the daemon's reply as either a human-readable block or machine-readable JSON.

This reference documents every command, subcommand, positional argument, and flag exactly as the CLI defines them. If a flag isn't listed here, it doesn't exist.

TIP

yerd --help and yerd <command> --help always print the authoritative, version-matched usage for your installed build. This reference mirrors that surface and explains what each command does behind the scenes.

Synopsis

yerd [--json] <COMMAND> [ARGS...]

Global flags

Flag	Description
`--json`	Emit machine-readable JSON instead of human-readable text. Available on every command.
`--help`, `-h`	Print help for the command.
`--version`, `-V`	Print the `yerd` version.

--json is a global flag, so you can place it before or after the subcommand: yerd --json status and yerd status --json are equivalent. In JSON mode the entire daemon response is printed as pretty JSON; the process exit code still reflects success or failure (see Exit codes).

INFO

yerd is the command-line front end. The daemon (yerdd) does the real work: running the proxy, DNS responder, PHP-FPM pools, and certificate authority. See The Daemon for how it runs, and the IPC Protocol for the request/response wire format.

Commands

Group	Commands
Sites	`sites`, `park`, `unpark`, `link`, `unlink`, `root`
HTTPS	`secure`, `unsecure`
PHP	`use`, `install php`, `uninstall php`, `update php`, `restart php`, `list php`, `list parked`, `set php`, `unset php`
Tooling	`tools`, `install tool`, `uninstall tool`, `path install`, `path uninstall`, `path print`
Services	`services`, `service available`, `service install`, `service change-version`, `service uninstall`, `service start`, `service stop`, `service restart`, `service set-port`, `service logs`
Databases	`db list`, `db create`, `db drop`, `db backup`, `db restore`
Mail	`mail list`, `mail show`, `mail clear`
Tunnel	`tunnel install`, `tunnel share`, `tunnel stop`, `tunnel status`, `tunnel login`, `tunnel create`, `tunnel delete`, `tunnel list`, `tunnel route`, `tunnel set-host`, `tunnel publish`, `tunnel unpublish`
Diagnostics	`ping`, `status`, `doctor`, `doctor fix`
Elevation	`elevate`, `unelevate`
Daemon control	`restart daemon`
Uninstall	`uninstall` (full self-uninstall), `uninstall php`, `uninstall tool`

Exit codes

yerd returns a meaningful process exit code so it composes cleanly in scripts and CI:

Code	Meaning
`0`	Success.
`1`	The daemon returned an error response, or a `doctor` run had a `Fail`-severity finding.
`2`	Client-side usage error (bad site name, invalid PHP version, unknown/invalid PHP setting).
`69`	The daemon was unreachable (for non-`doctor` commands).
`74`	Other transport / I/O failure.

For the elevate/unelevate path, additional codes can surface: 77 if not run as root, 69 if the daemon's facts can't be fetched, 74 if the helper/daemon sibling binaries can't be located, and 1 if any privileged step failed.

# Use the exit code in a script
if yerd doctor; then
  echo "yerd is healthy"
else
  echo "yerd reported problems (exit $?)"
fi

JSON output

Pass --json to get the raw daemon response as pretty-printed JSON, ideal for scripting or for the desktop app and other tooling:

yerd --json status
yerd --json list php --available
yerd --json sites

The exit code in JSON mode matches the human path exactly, including doctor's Fail-aware behaviour, so you can branch on the code and parse the body independently.

CLI Reference ​

Synopsis ​

Global flags ​

Commands ​

Exit codes ​

JSON output ​

See also ​