FAQ

Can devglow manage Hugo, Next.js, or any CLI process?

Yes. devglow is command-centric — if it runs in your terminal, it runs in devglow. Hugo, Next.js, Vite, Rails, Flask, Cargo, Go, or any shell command. Just paste the command you normally run in your terminal.

Does devglow work with monorepos?

Yes. Register multiple processes with different working directories. Run your frontend, backend, and worker processes all from one place. Each process has its own log viewer and status indicator.

Can I view serverless or Docker logs through devglow?

Yes — any command that outputs to stdout works. For example:

serverless logs -f myFunction --tail

docker logs -f container_name

kubectl logs -f pod/my-pod

All stream directly into devglow's built-in log viewer.

How much log data does devglow store?

Each process keeps up to 5 MB of log data. Since devglow is a local development tool, this is more than enough for debugging sessions. Logs are stored in memory and cleared when you restart the process.

Can I search through logs?

Yes. Press ⌘F in the log viewer to search. It highlights matches in real-time as logs stream in.

What is the MCP server?

devglow ships with an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets AI coding tools control your processes directly — start, stop, check status, and read logs.

claude mcp add -s user devglow -- npx --prefer-offline devglow-mcp@latest

npx --prefer-offline devglow-mcp@latest

How do I tell my AI to add an app to devglow?

devglow doesn't read a config file — there's no devglow.json or DEVGLOW.md. Registration happens through devglow's MCP tools, so “add this to devglow” just means your AI calls the create_project tool. Paste this at the end of your prompt when you build a new app:

When the app is ready, register it in devglow through the devglow MCP, not by creating any config file. First call list_projects so you don't add a duplicate. If it listens on a port, pass that port. Register it, but don't start it unless I ask.

That covers it: no invented config files, no duplicates, the right port, and registration only — so you stay in control of starting it.

My AI hard-codes a full path like /opt/homebrew/bin/npm. How do I fix that?

Ask your AI to register the plain command (npm run dev), not an absolute path to npm or node. devglow loads your real shell environment when it launches a process, so the plain command resolves the same way it does in your terminal. A hard-coded path can point at a binary that isn't there on every machine and break the launch.

The MCP seems stuck on an old version. How do I update it?

Type /mcp in Claude Code or Codex to check the version. If it's behind the latest published version, ask your AI to clear the npx cache and reinstall the latest:

Clear my npx cache and pull the latest devglow-mcp

One habit worth keeping: whenever an AI hands you a command with rm in it, ask it first what it deletes and whether it's safe.

How does port conflict detection work?

No more lsof -i :3000 | grep LISTEN and kill -9.

When a process fails to start because a port is already in use, devglow detects it and shows you which process is occupying the port. One click to kill the conflicting process and free the port.

Does devglow work with Docker?

Yes. Run Docker commands like docker compose up as a devglow project. The logs stream into the built-in viewer, and you can start/stop the entire stack with one click or keystroke.

Can devglow manage multiple dev servers at once?

Yes. Instead of opening multiple terminal tabs for npm run dev, npm run api, and npm run worker — register them all in devglow. Start and stop everything from one place, with each process getting its own log stream and status indicator.

Does devglow replace terminal-based process monitors?

If you use pm2, foreman, or overmind for local development, devglow is a GUI alternative purpose-built for macOS. Instead of running in a terminal tab, it lives in your menu bar. Register your commands, start and stop them visually, and monitor logs — without touching the terminal.