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Once you’ve installed SlackHive, the slackhive command is your day-to-day control surface - simple verbs for start, stop, status, logs, update, backup, and restore.

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slackhive status

Show whether SlackHive is running and where. 
slackhive status
Reports:
  • Whether the web UI is up and on which port
  • Whether the runner is up and its PID
  • The path to ~/.slackhive/ (data and logs)
If you see running but can’t reach the UI, check troubleshooting.

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slackhive logs

Tail the runner log live. 
slackhive logs
Runs with --follow by default. Ctrl-C to stop. The log is JSON per line. To filter to a single agent: 
slackhive logs | grep '"agent":"data-bot"'
The Logs tab in the web UI shows the same stream with level badges and search.

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slackhive stop

Gracefully stop SlackHive. 
slackhive stop
This:
  1. Sends SIGTERM to the managed runner and the web server
  2. Sweeps any orphan runner processes (e.g. an accidental tsx watch from a previous dev session)
  3. Unlinks the ~/.slackhive/runner.lock file
A single command cleans the whole stack. No stale processes, no manual kill.

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slackhive start

Start SlackHive. 
slackhive start
This:
  1. Checks ~/.slackhive/runner.lock - if another runner is alive, exits with a clear error
  2. If the lock is stale (the PID isn’t alive), removes it automatically
  3. Picks free ports for the web and runner (default 3001 / 3002; auto-negotiates if taken)
  4. Writes the new PID into the lock
  5. Starts the web and runner

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slackhive update

Pull the latest code and rebuild. 
slackhive update
Rebuilds and restarts SlackHive. Your data (~/.slackhive/data.db) is preserved.
  • npm install (recommended): slackhive update detects your install type. If you installed via npm, it will tell you to run npm update -g slackhive instead.
  • git clone install: runs git pull, npm install, rebuilds the runner and web app, restarts.
If git pull fails (e.g. local changes), stash them first: git stash && slackhive update.

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slackhive backup

Create a database backup. 
slackhive backup
When SlackHive is running, the CLI asks the runner to create a consistent live snapshot. When SlackHive is stopped, the CLI copies the closed database file. Write to a specific path: 
slackhive backup --output /secure/backups/slackhive.db
Default backups live in ~/.slackhive/backups/.

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slackhive restore

Restore the database from a backup. Restore is CLI-only and stops SlackHive before replacing the local SQLite database. 
slackhive restore -f ~/.slackhive/backups/data-20260629-093000.db \
  --recovery-key ~/Downloads/slackhive-recovery-20260629-093100.json
slackhive start
The recovery-key password is prompted without echoing. For automation, set SLACKHIVE_RECOVERY_PASSWORD in the environment. If you have the original .env instead of a recovery-key file: 
slackhive restore -f /backups/data.db --env /secure/slackhive.env
slackhive start
See Backup & Recovery for the full disaster-recovery flow.

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Where data lives

PathWhat it holds
~/.slackhive/data.dbSQLite DB - agents, memories, skills, history, settings
~/.slackhive/backups/SQLite backup files and pre-restore safety snapshots
~/.slackhive/agents/<slug>/Per-agent workspace (instructions, sessions, copies of assigned wiki folders)
~/.slackhive/knowledge/<folderId>/wiki/Compiled wikis for the Knowledge Library (source of truth)
~/.slackhive/logs/runner.logFull runner log stream
~/.slackhive/runner.lockSingleton lock - JSON with pid, startedAt, mode
~/.slackhive/slackhive.pidWeb-server PID file
Use Backup & Recovery for database backups and recovery-key export. Snapshot ~/.slackhive/ separately if you also want generated workspaces, compiled wiki files, and logs.

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Running from any directory

slackhive commands work from anywhere on disk - the CLI finds the install via the apps/runner marker. You don’t need to cd into the repo.

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Troubleshooting

See operations / troubleshooting for common errors and what they mean.