name	live-cmd
description	Run long-lived commands `live` and inspect logs. Use for long running services like dev servers, databases, or watchers. Inspect user commands "running in live".

live-cmd

live runs commands and provides tools to inspect logs in real-time. Built for agents: reads use familiar interfaces like cat and tail. Verbose reads emit a resume cursor to pick up where you left off, even across sessions.

No daemons; state lives in ~/.live.

Record a command

live run -n server npm start   # run under a PTY, record output
live run -dn server npm start  # detach: return immediately, print UUID

The command's stdout and stderr are merged into one log. live run -d detaches the process so it survives shell exit.

Find sessions

live ps         # active sessions in the current directory tree
live ps -a      # include exited sessions
live ps -ag     # all sessions, global scope
live ps --json  # NDJSON, one session per line

Select sessions by NAME (newest match) or UUID prefix. Verbs scope to sessions started in the current directory and descendants; add -g for global scope.

Read output

live cat -v server
live head -vn 50 server  # first 50 lines
live tail -vn 50 server  # last 50 lines
live head -t 1m server   # lines at or before epoch T or (now - interval)
live tail -t 1m server   # lines after epoch T or (now - interval)

With -v, log content goes to stdout and verbose live metadata goes to stderr:

trailer: printed with every verbose command live: id=<uuid> next-line=<N> next-byte=<B> last-time=<T>
stop: session is done live: exit-code=<code> or live: exit=inconsistent
hung: alive, but stalled live: status=hung last-activity=<s>
tty closed: output detached but child is running live: tty closed; no further output
gap: retention dropped data live: dropped <j> lines + <k> bytes (from-line=<N>, first-line=<F>, from-byte=<B0>, first-byte=<B1>)
partial: partial line (eg. progress bars) live: partial-line bytes=<k> age=<s>

ANSI codes are stripped when stdout is not a TTY; force with --strip-ansi or --raw.

Resume from a cursor

Save next-line (or next-byte) from the trailer, then poll for new data:

live tail -vn +42 server   # lines from line 42 onward
live tail -vc +250 server  # bytes from position 250 (1-based)

Each call prints trailer data; feed next-line/next-byte into the next poll. If trailer id changes, the name now points at a new session — reset cursors to 1.

Stop and clean up

live stop server                  # SIGTERM a running session
live stop --all                   # stop everything running in scope
live rm server                    # remove a session
live rm -f server                 # stop and remove a session
live rm --exited --older-than 1d  # remove sessions that exited > 1 day ago

Logs are bounded: past retention cap, old segments are dropped. Old sessions are cleaned opportunistically (default TTL 7 days, configurable in ~/.live/config.json).

name	live-cmd
description	Run long-lived commands `live` and inspect logs. Use for long running services like dev servers, databases, or watchers. Inspect user commands "running in live".