Commands

Every command works from anywhere inside a project: dqx walks up to find .dq/config.yml, and the directory you are standing in picks the site.

dqx <command> --help prints the flags for any of them.

Every command

dqx has 55 commands. dqx <command> --help prints the flags for any of them.

command	what it does
dqx adopt	Bring any project — v1, v2, v3, or no config at all — into the v4 shape
dqx artisan	Run php artisan in a site
dqx auth	Report, import or set the credentials the install pipeline needs
dqx changes	Record a change for the next release, or list what is pending
dqx clean	Stop this project and delete the data the backend can recreate
dqx composer	Run composer in a site
dqx config	Read the project configuration
dqx db	Open this project's database in your client, or print the connection URL
dqx db:export	Export the database
dqx db:import	Import a database dump
dqx dev	Run the dev server a proxied site needs (proxyCommand in .dq/config.yml)
dqx docs	Open the documentation in your browser
dqx doctor	Report what is and is not working here
dqx domains	Show this project's domains, and what they become under another TLD
dqx down	Stop the environment
dqx exec	Run a command in a site
dqx generate	Print the backend config this project would get
dqx healthchecks	Find compose healthchecks that can never pass, and fix them
dqx images	Find data-owning services on a floating image tag, and pin them
dqx info	Every URL, port and connection this project has — or every running project
dqx init	Set up a new project: .dq/config.yml v4, docker-compose.yml and docker confs
dqx install	Set the project up from nothing
dqx kill	Stop every backend and container on this machine, and free ports 80 and 443
dqx layout	Where the code sits: single (the app repository is the project) or multi
dqx link	Register this project with the backend, without installing it
dqx list	Every project registered here, grouped by project
dqx logs	Tail logs
dqx mcp	Serve dqx over the Model Context Protocol, for coding agents
dqx memory	What each project is using, and what the VM holds beyond that
dqx migrate	Rewrite .dq/config.yml in the v4 shape, after showing what changes
dqx npm	Run npm in a site
dqx open	Open a site in the browser
dqx php	Run php in a site
dqx release	Roll the pending changes into a version, a changelog entry and package.json
dqx repair	Check the whole installation, and fix what dqx can
dqx resolver	How local domains resolve on this machine
dqx restore	Put a snapshot back
dqx router:down	Stop the shared reverse proxy and give 80/443 back
dqx router:status	Whether the router runs, and who holds 80/443 if it does not
dqx router:up	Start the shared reverse proxy, so every project serves at once on 80/443
dqx run	Run a command this project declares in commands:
dqx scan	Read what each site needs: packages, and the node version its image ships
dqx self-update	Update this binary, or say how it should be updated
dqx shell	Open a shell in a site
dqx sites	List the project's sites
dqx snapshot	Save the database and storage this project holds
dqx switch	Move this project to another backend, database and URLs included
dqx sync	Write the backend config for this project from .dq/config.yml
dqx test	Run php artisan test in a site
dqx up	Start the environment
dqx update	Pull the container images this project uses
dqx update-images	Refresh the house container images this machine already has
dqx verify	Request every domain this project declares, and say what answered
dqx version	Print the version, or check it against a minimum
dqx xdebug	Toggle Xdebug for yourself — off by default, never committed

Generated

This table is read from the CLI itself on every docs build, so it lists what actually ships. The sections below cover the ones worth more than a line.

Running a project

up

Start every site of the project. Brings up the shared proxy if it is not running, reissues the certificate when it does not cover a domain yet, and frees a port another project is holding — naming what it stopped.

down

Stop this project.

kill

Stop every project on every backend and free ports 80 and 443. Needs no project — the reason to run it is almost never the project you are standing in, it is that another backend is holding the ports.

The runtimes themselves keep running unless you say otherwise:

dqx kill	every project's containers, on every backend; ports freed
dqx kill --all	that, and the runtimes, giving their memory back
dqx kill --mine	leave containers that belong to no project of ours

dqx kill --dry-run lists what it would stop and stops nothing — worth it before the one command that takes away work somebody else may be doing.

dqx down is the project-scoped one.

update

Pull the images this project declares, rather than a hardcoded list.

clean

Remove the environment and the data directories a bind-mounted database leaves behind, which down does not touch. Asks first.

Working inside a project

shell

A shell in the site, in the directory you are standing in. Aliased as bash.

exec

dqx exec -- <command> — one command in the site.

php · artisan · composer · npm · test

The tool, in the right container and directory, with the project's credentials available.

run

dqx run <name> — a command the project declared under commands: in its config.

open

The site, in your browser.

logs

dqx logs [service] — tail logs.

xdebug

dqx xdebug on|off, per developer and gitignored. dqx up re-applies your choice.

The database

db

Open a client. dqx db --url prints today's URL for a GUI tool — the published port changes on every up, so this is the only reliable source.

db:import · db:export

dqx db:import <file>, dqx db:export [file].

snapshot · restore

The database and the storage directories, which is what a project needs to actually be restorable.

Seeing what is going on

info

Every URL, port and connection this project has. --json for a script or an agent.

list

Every project on the machine, on every backend, one row per checkout with all of its domains. --json supported.

doctor

What is broken here, with a severity and a remedy for each finding. --json supported.

verify

Ask every declared domain what it actually answers. --json supported.

sites

The domains this project serves.

memory

What each project is costing, and what the VM holds beyond that.

scan

What the project's own files say about it — declared versus detected versions, and what disagrees.

Setting a project up

init

Create a project. Flags for the simple case, --from <file> for the whole surface, --scaffold to create the application too. See creating projects.

adopt

Read a project that already exists and write the declaration for it. Prints what it would write and changes nothing; --write applies it.

install

Set the project up from nothing: clone, generate, start, install, run the project's own steps. --only <steps> re-runs one part.

sync

Regenerate the environment from the declaration, keeping anything hand-edited. Reports what it would remove and what disagrees; it never rewrites the declaration itself.

switch

Change backend. Refuses, with the reason, when the project needs something the target cannot give.

layout

dqx layout [single|multi] — where the code sits. --dry-run first; see layouts.

link · repair · migrate · domains

Register with the backend, repair a backend's own state, migrate an older config, and rename domains across a project's files.

The tool itself

docs

dqx docs [topic] — this documentation, served locally. dqx docs ssl jumps to the page.

mcp

Run the MCP server for an AI agent. See AI tooling.

config

dqx config get <key> reads the project's configuration; dqx config machine reads and writes this machine's settings.

auth

Report, import or set the credentials composer needs. Credentials are discovered, never stored by dqx.

version · self-update

What this is, and replacing it with the current release.

changes · release

Record a change for the next release, and roll the pending changes into a version.