Commands

Abstrax commands are grouped by area. Every command follows the same pattern:

abstrax <group> <action> [arguments] [flags]

This page introduces the global flags and the top-level commands, then links to detailed documentation for each command group.

Global flags

These flags are available on every command:

Flag	Description
--json	Output machine-readable JSON instead of text
--dry-run	Show the commands that would run without making changes
--yes	Skip confirmation prompts for destructive commands
--quiet	Reduce output
--verbose	Increase output, including the underlying commands being run
--no-color	Disable coloured output

Every command also supports --help (alias -h). The root command additionally supports --version (alias -v).

Top-level commands

Command	Description	Root required
abstrax version	Print version, commit, and build date	No
abstrax doctor	Inspect the system and report platform capabilities	No
abstrax log	View the Abstrax log file	No
abstrax agent	Placeholder for the future hosted agent (not implemented)	No
abstrax help	Show help for any command	No
abstrax completion	Generate a shell autocompletion script	No

The help and completion commands are provided automatically by the command framework. abstrax completion <shell> prints an autocompletion script for bash, zsh, fish, or PowerShell.

version

abstrax version
abstrax version --json

doctor

abstrax doctor reads /etc/os-release, detects the package manager, service manager, and firewall backend, checks whether it is running as root, and reports which managed tools are installed.

abstrax doctor
abstrax doctor --json

It reports:

OS, version, architecture, kernel version
Package manager (apt, dnf, yum, apk, pacman)
Service manager (systemd, sysvinit)
Firewall backend (ufw, firewalld, iptables, none)
Whether running as root
Whether the platform is fully supported
Available tools: nginx, apache2, certbot, mysql, mariadb, supervisor, redis, memcached, ufw, curl, git

log

abstrax log reads the Abstrax log file at /var/log/abstrax/abstrax.log using tail. If the file does not exist, it says so.

abstrax log
abstrax log --lines=100
abstrax log --follow

Flag	Default	Description
--lines	50	Number of lines to show
--follow, -f	false	Follow the log output

agent

The agent command and its subcommands (connect, status, run, update) are placeholders. They print a message stating that agent mode is not yet implemented and make no changes. See Supported platforms.

Command groups

Group	Purpose	Documentation
user	Manage Linux users and groups	users.md
ssh-key	Manage SSH authorised keys for users	ssh-keys.md
ssh	Manage SSH server configuration	ssh-keys.md
package	Manage apt packages	packages.md
service	Manage systemd services	system.md
cron	Manage scheduled cron jobs	cron.md
daemon	Manage background processes with Supervisor	daemons.md
project	Manage nginx-backed web projects	projects.md
web	Test, reload, and restart the web server	projects.md
ssl	Manage Let's Encrypt certificates with Certbot	certificates.md
mysql	Manage MySQL/MariaDB databases and users	system.md
cache	Manage Redis and Memcached	system.md
firewall	Manage the UFW firewall	system.md
server	Show server status and resource usage	system.md

For a single page listing every command and flag, see the command reference.

A note on permissions

Many commands change system state and require root. Run them with sudo. Read-only commands such as doctor, version, server status, and the various list, info, and status actions generally do not require root, though some need root to read protected system files. Each command page notes the requirement. See Permissions for the full picture.