Skip to main content

Daemon mode

Daemon mode runs Reqon as a long-running service, executing scheduled missions automatically.

Starting the daemon​

reqon ./missions/ --daemon

How it works​

  1. Daemon loads all missions from the specified path
  2. Parses schedule configurations
  3. Runs missions according to their schedules
  4. Continues until stopped

Command options​

reqon ./missions/ --daemon [options]

Options:
  --auth <file>        Credentials file
  --env <file>         Path to .env file
  --verbose            Enable detailed logging
  --dry-run            Run without making actual HTTP requests
  --once               Run every scheduled mission once, then exit
  --control            Enable the control server for status and pause/resume
  --control-port <n>   Port for the control server (default: 3001)

Example setup​

Mission files​

missions/
├── sync-customers.vague
├── sync-orders.vague
└── daily-report.vague

sync-customers.vague​

mission SyncCustomers {
  schedule: every 15 minutes

  source API { auth: bearer, base: "https://api.example.com" }
  store customers: file("customers")

  action Sync {
    get "/customers" { since: lastSync }
    store response -> customers { key: .id, upsert: true }
  }

  run Sync
}

Running​

reqon ./missions/ --daemon --auth ./credentials.json --verbose

Process management​

Foreground​

reqon ./missions/ --daemon

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Background (Linux)​

nohup reqon ./missions/ --daemon > reqon.log 2>&1 &

Systemd service​

Create /etc/systemd/system/reqon.service:

[Unit]
Description=Reqon Data Sync Daemon
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=reqon
WorkingDirectory=/opt/reqon
ExecStart=/usr/bin/npx reqon ./missions/ --daemon --auth ./credentials.json
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl enable reqon
sudo systemctl start reqon

Docker​

Dockerfile:

FROM node:22-alpine

WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install

COPY . .

CMD ["npx", "reqon", "./missions/", "--daemon"]

docker-compose.yml:

version: '3'
services:
  reqon:
    build: .
    volumes:
      - ./missions:/app/missions
      - ./credentials.json:/app/credentials.json
      - reqon-data:/app/.reqon-data
    environment:
      - NODE_ENV=production
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  reqon-data:

Graceful shutdown​

Reqon handles SIGINT and SIGTERM:

  1. Stops accepting new runs
  2. Waits for in-progress missions to complete
  3. Saves state
  4. Exits cleanly
# Graceful stop
kill -TERM $(pgrep -f "reqon.*daemon")

# Or with systemd
systemctl stop reqon

Health checks​

Control server​

Enable the control server to expose status and health endpoints:

reqon ./missions/ --daemon --control --control-port 3001

The server exposes:

curl http://localhost:3001/health   # Health check
curl http://localhost:3001/status   # Current execution state and progress

It also accepts POST /pause to request a graceful pause at the next safe point and POST /resume to clear that request.

File-based health​

mission HealthCheck {
  schedule: every 1 minutes

  action Check {
    store { status: "ok", timestamp: now() } -> health
  }
}

Monitor the health store file.

Logging​

The daemon logs to stdout. Use --verbose for detailed output; there's no log-level or log-format environment variable.

# Default logging
reqon ./missions/ --daemon

# Verbose logging
reqon ./missions/ --daemon --verbose

Log output​

Found 3 scheduled mission(s)

Scheduled jobs:
  - SyncCustomers: every 15 minutes
    Next run: 2024-01-20T09:15:00.000Z
  - SyncOrders: cron "*/5 * * * *"
    Next run: 2024-01-20T09:05:00.000Z

Starting scheduler daemon (Ctrl+C to stop)...

[2024-01-20 09:05:00] Starting: SyncOrders
[2024-01-20 09:05:02] Completed: SyncOrders (2100ms)

Best practices​

Use separate credentials​

# Production credentials
reqon ./missions/ --daemon --auth ./prod-credentials.json

Run as non-root​

# Create dedicated user
useradd -r -s /bin/false reqon

# Run as that user
sudo -u reqon reqon ./missions/ --daemon

Persistent storage​

Ensure .reqon-data is on persistent storage:

volumes:
  - /var/lib/reqon:/app/.reqon-data

Health monitoring​

Enable the control server so you can poll status and health:

reqon ./missions/ --daemon --control --control-port 3001

Log rotation​

# Use logrotate
/var/log/reqon/*.log {
    daily
    rotate 7
    compress
    missingok
    notifempty
}