Command reference

Run outpost (or outpost help) for this list, and outpost doctor to preflight the host. The canonical command is outpost; alias it (alias ot=outpost) for daily use.

Lifecycle (act on a project’s container)

Command	What it does
outpost base	Build / rebuild the shared base image (outpost-base).
outpost setup <project>	First time: build images, start the container, bootstrap.
outpost sh <project> [--no-agent]	Attach into the container (a tmux session per project). --no-agent skips the git bridge.
outpost exec <project> <cmd>…	Run a one-off command inside the container (scriptable; no tmux). Requires it running.
outpost dash [project…] [--no-agent]	One host tmux to switch between projects (C-a project, C-b inside).
outpost update <project> | --all	Rebuild on the latest base, keeping the volumes (swap-with-rollback).
outpost up / down / ps <project>	Start / stop / show the project’s services (compose.yaml) on the host engine.
outpost status [project]	One-glance health (see below). With no project: a one-line summary row per project.
outpost start <project>	Start a stopped container (re-adds it to a running dash).
outpost stop <project>	Stop the container (removes it from a running dash).
outpost restart <project>	Stop then start the container (dash-aware).
outpost rm <project>	Remove the container (keeps volumes).
outpost destroy <project>	Remove the container and its volumes (drops project state).
outpost logs <project> [-f]	Container logs.
outpost ls	List outpost containers and their state.
outpost cp <project> <src>… <dest>	Copy host file(s) into /workspace, or out of the box (a source arg with a leading : is a container path — see below).
outpost ports <project>	Show the host ports the EXPOSE’d ports map to, with ssh -L hints.
outpost doctor	Preflight the host (docker, socat, agent, uid, compose plugin, …).

outpost status

With a project, outpost status <project> reports, in one glance:

• Container state — running / stopped / absent.
• Image freshness — whether the project image is built on the current base (fresh) or an older one (stale — outpost update to refresh).
• Published host ports — the 127.0.0.1 ports the EXPOSE’d ports map to.
• Agent bridge — alive or not (the socat pid + whether the socket is present).
• Compose services — their state, if the project has a compose.yaml.
• Volume disk usage — the code and home named volumes.

With no project it prints a one-line summary row per project. It’s the daily-driver command: it folds together what previously needed ls + ports + ps + doctor.

outpost cp — copy in and out

Without any :-prefixed argument, cp behaves as before: host file(s) → /workspace (outpost cp web ~/shot.png). To copy out of the box, prefix a source with : to mark it as a path inside the container; the last argument is then the host destination:

outpost cp web :/workspace/dist/app.tar.gz ./       # pull a build artifact OUT to the host
outpost cp web ~/logo.png                            # push a host file IN to /workspace

Project configs (outpost projects …)

Command	What it does
outpost projects init [--remote <url>]	Create OUTPOST_PROJECTS_DIR, git init, set remote, add a starter project.
outpost projects new <name> [-t <tpl>]	Scaffold a new project from a template.
outpost projects edit <name> [file]	Open the project dir / one file in $EDITOR.
outpost projects ls	List configured projects.
outpost projects rm <name> [--destroy]	Remove the config dir (--destroy also drops the container + volumes).
outpost projects sync [-m "msg"]	Pull, commit (auto message), push.
outpost projects templates / path	List templates / print the projects dir.

Tool

Command	What it does
outpost upgrade	Self-update the tool (git pull --ff-only in OUTPOST_DIR).
outpost completion bash	Print a bash completion script (source <(outpost completion bash)).
outpost version	Print the version.

See Configuration for every OUTPOST_* variable.