Server Commands
Commands for running and managing the Gordon server process.
gordon serve
Start the Gordon server with registry and proxy components.
Synopsis
gordon serve [options]
Options
| Option | Short | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
--config |
-c |
Auto-detected | Path to configuration file |
Description
Starts the Gordon server, which includes:
- Container Registry - Receives image pushes on the registry port
- HTTP Proxy - Routes traffic to containers on the proxy port
- Event Bus - Coordinates deployments and updates
- Config Watcher - Monitors configuration file for changes
Configuration File Detection
Gordon looks for configuration in this order:
- Path specified with
--config /etc/gordon/gordon.toml~/.config/gordon/gordon.toml./gordon.toml
First Run
On first run without a config file, Gordon creates a default configuration at ~/.config/gordon/gordon.toml.
# First run - creates default config
gordon serve
# Edit the config, then restart
Examples
# Basic start
gordon serve
# With custom config
gordon serve --config /path/to/gordon.toml
gordon serve -c ./my-config.toml
# With environment override
GORDON_SERVER_PORT=8080 gordon serve
GORDON_LOGGING_LEVEL=debug gordon serve
Signals
Gordon responds to these signals:
| Signal | Action |
|---|---|
SIGTERM |
Graceful shutdown |
SIGINT |
Graceful shutdown (Ctrl+C) |
SIGUSR1 |
Reload configuration |
SIGUSR2 |
Manual deploy (used by gordon deploy) |
Running with systemd
# Create user service
mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cat > ~/.config/systemd/user/gordon.service <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Gordon Container Platform
[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/gordon serve
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF
# Enable and start
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now gordon
sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER
Startup Sequence
- Load configuration
- Initialize logger
- Create PID file
- Connect to Docker/Podman runtime
- Create storage directories
- Initialize services (registry, proxy, auth)
- Register event handlers
- Start config file watcher
- Sync existing containers
- Start HTTP servers
Shutdown Sequence
- Receive shutdown signal
- Stop accepting new requests
- Complete in-flight requests
- Stop managed containers (if configured)
- Remove PID file
- Exit
gordon reload
Reload configuration and sync containers to match.
Synopsis
gordon reload
Description
Sends SIGUSR1 to the running Gordon process, triggering:
- Configuration file reload
- Route synchronization
- Deployment of containers for routes missing containers
- Attachment deployment
Example
# After editing gordon.toml, apply changes without restart
vim ~/.config/gordon/gordon.toml
gordon reload
gordon deploy
Manually deploy or redeploy a specific route.
Synopsis
gordon deploy <domain> [options]
Arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
<domain> |
The domain name of the route to deploy (required) |
Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--remote |
Remote Gordon URL |
--token |
Authentication token for remote |
Description
Local mode: Sends SIGUSR2 to the Gordon process with the specified domain.
Remote mode: Calls the remote Gordon Admin API to trigger deployment.
Both modes trigger:
- Fresh image pull (always pulls latest, ignoring cache)
- Container redeployment for the specified route
Examples
# Local deployment
gordon deploy myapp.example.com
gordon deploy api.example.com
# Remote deployment
gordon deploy myapp.example.com --remote https://gordon.mydomain.com --token $TOKEN
Use Cases
- Recover from a failed deployment
- Force redeploy without pushing a new image
- Manual deployment when automatic deploy didn't trigger
- Trigger deployments on remote Gordon instances from CI/CD
gordon logs
Display Gordon process logs or container logs.
Synopsis
gordon logs [domain] [options]
Arguments
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
[domain] |
Optional. Container domain to view logs for. Without this, shows Gordon process logs. |
Options
| Option | Short | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
--config |
-c |
Auto | Path to config file |
--follow |
-f |
false | Follow log output (like tail -f) |
--lines |
-n |
50 | Number of lines to show |
--remote |
Remote Gordon URL | ||
--token |
Authentication token for remote |
Examples
# Gordon process logs
gordon logs # Last 50 lines
gordon logs -f # Follow logs
gordon logs -n 100 # Last 100 lines
gordon logs -f -n 200 # Follow, starting from last 200 lines
# Container logs
gordon logs myapp.local # Last 50 lines from container
gordon logs myapp.local -f # Follow container logs
gordon logs myapp.local -n 100 # Last 100 lines from container
# Remote mode
gordon logs --remote https://gordon.mydomain.com --token $TOKEN
gordon logs myapp.local --remote https://gordon.mydomain.com --token $TOKEN
Log Locations
# Using gordon logs
gordon logs -f
# Direct file access
tail -f ~/.gordon/logs/gordon.log
# With systemd
journalctl --user -u gordon -f
# Container logs via docker (local alternative)
docker logs --tail 50 myapp.local
docker logs -f myapp.local
gordon version
Print version information.
Synopsis
gordon version
Output
Gordon v2.0.0
Commit: abc1234
Build Date: 2024-01-15