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Loopar provides comprehensive process control commands to manage your application lifecycle in production environments.

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Start Command

Start your Loopar application in production mode.

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Start All Sites

loopar start
Starts the core site and all configured sites in production mode.

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Start Specific Site

loopar start <siteName>
Starts only the specified site.
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siteName
string
The name of the site to start (corresponds to the directory name in sites/)

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Source Code

bin/loopar-cli.js:37-45
start(siteName) {
  if (!siteName) {
    console.log(chalk.cyan('Starting core site.'));
    pm2Command(
      `node bin/ensure-site.js && pm2 start bin/loopar.ecosystem.config.mjs --namespace ${namespace} --silent && node bin/loopar-status.js --env production`
    );
  } else {
    console.log(chalk.cyan(`Starting ${siteName}...`));
    pm2Command(
      `node bin/ensure-site.js && pm2 start bin/loopar.ecosystem.config.mjs --namespace ${namespace} --only ${siteName} --silent && node bin/loopar-status.js --env production`
    );
  }
}

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Examples

loopar start
# Starting core site.
# ✓ Sites started successfully
The start command ensures the site exists before starting and displays a status table after successful startup.

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Stop Command

Gracefully stop running Loopar processes.

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Stop All Sites

loopar stop
Stops all running sites under the current project namespace.

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Stop Specific Site

loopar stop <siteName>
Stops only the specified site.

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Source Code

bin/loopar-cli.js:47-56
stop(siteName) {
  if (!siteName) {
    console.log(chalk.yellow('Stopping all sites...'));
    pm2Command(`pm2 stop all --namespace ${namespace}`);
  } else {
    const processName = getProcessName(siteName);
    console.log(chalk.yellow(`Stopping ${siteName}...`));
    pm2Command(`pm2 stop ${processName} --namespace ${namespace}`);
  }
}

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Examples

loopar stop
# Stopping all sites...
# [PM2] Stopping all processes
Stopping a site does not remove it from PM2. The process remains in PM2’s process list and can be restarted. Use delete to completely remove a process.

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Restart Command

Restart running processes with zero-downtime for configuration updates or code changes.

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Restart All Sites

loopar restart
Restarts all sites under the current project namespace.

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Restart Specific Site

loopar restart <siteName>
Restarts only the specified site.

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Source Code

bin/loopar-cli.js:58-67
restart(siteName) {
  if (!siteName) {
    console.log(chalk.cyan('Restarting all sites...'));
    pm2Command(`pm2 restart all --namespace ${namespace}`);
  } else {
    const processName = getProcessName(siteName);
    console.log(chalk.cyan(`Restarting ${siteName}...`));
    pm2Command(`pm2 restart ${processName} --namespace ${namespace}`);
  }
}

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When to Restart

Restart your application when:
  • Configuration Changes - Updated .env files or settings
  • Code Updates - Deployed new code to production
  • Dependency Updates - Installed or updated npm packages
  • Memory Leaks - As a temporary fix while debugging
  • Performance Issues - To clear cached data and reset state

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Examples

loopar restart
# Restarting all sites...
# [PM2] Restarting all processes
PM2 performs graceful restarts by default, ensuring no downtime during the restart process.

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Delete Command

Remove processes from PM2’s process list. This is a destructive operation that cannot be undone.

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Delete All Sites

loopar delete
Removes all sites from PM2 under the current project namespace.

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Delete Specific Site

loopar delete <siteName>
Removes only the specified site from PM2.

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Source Code

bin/loopar-cli.js:69-78
delete(siteName) {
  if (!siteName) {
    console.log(chalk.red('Deleting all sites from PM2...'));
    pm2Command(`pm2 delete all --namespace ${namespace}`);
  } else {
    const processName = getProcessName(siteName);
    console.log(chalk.red(`Deleting ${siteName} from PM2...`));
    pm2Command(`pm2 delete ${processName} --namespace ${namespace}`);
  }
}

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Examples

loopar delete
# Deleting all sites from PM2...
# [PM2] Deleting all processes
The delete command removes the process from PM2’s management but does not delete any files or data. Site directories in sites/ remain intact.

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When to Delete

Use delete when:
  • Cleaning Up - Removing old or unused sites
  • Troubleshooting - Clearing PM2 process list
  • Namespace Conflicts - Resolving process naming issues
  • Fresh Start - Before redeploying or reconfiguring

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Process Naming

Processes are named using the pattern: 
function getProcessName(siteName) {
  return `${projectName}-${siteName}`;
}
For example, in a project named my-app:
  • loopar start dev creates process my-app-dev
  • loopar start production creates process my-app-production

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Best Practices

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Development Workflow

# Start development
loopar dev

# Make changes...

# Restart to apply changes
loopar restart dev

# View logs for debugging
loopar logs dev

# Stop when done
loopar stop dev

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Production Deployment

# Deploy new code
git pull origin main
npm install

# Restart to apply updates
loopar restart production

# Verify status
loopar status

# Monitor logs
loopar logs production

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Clean Shutdown

# Stop all processes
loopar stop

# Remove from PM2
loopar delete

# Verify cleanup
pm2 list

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Error Handling

If a command fails, error messages are displayed in red:
bin/loopar-cli.js:16-30
function pm2Command(cmd, silent = false) {
  try {
    const result = execSync(cmd, { 
      stdio: silent ? 'pipe' : 'inherit',
      encoding: 'utf8'
    });
    return result;
  } catch (err) {
    if (!silent) {
      console.error(chalk.red(`Error: ${err}`));
    }
    return null;
  }
}

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Next Steps

View Status

Check the status of all running processes

Monitor Logs

View real-time logs for debugging and monitoring

Development Mode

Learn about the dev command for local development

PM2 Commands

Explore advanced PM2 commands and features

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