CLI Architecture

Overview

The Spacedrive CLI (sd) is a command-line interface for interacting with the Spacedrive daemon. It provides a comprehensive set of commands for managing libraries, files, devices, and daemon lifecycle.

Architecture

The CLI follows a client-daemon architecture:

CLI Binary (sd-cli / sd) - The client that sends commands
Daemon Binary (sd-daemon) - The background service that does the actual work
Unix Socket - Communication channel between CLI and daemon

┌─────────┐      Unix Socket      ┌──────────┐
│   sd    │ ◄──────────────────► │ sd-daemon│
│ (client)│                       │ (server) │
└─────────┘                       └──────────┘
                                       │
                                       ▼
                                  ┌──────────┐
                                  │ Libraries│
                                  └──────────┘

Daemon Management

Starting the Daemon

# Start in background
sd start

# Start in foreground (see logs)
sd start --foreground

The daemon:

Runs as a background process
Listens on a Unix socket at ~/Library/Application Support/spacedrive/daemon/daemon.sock
Manages all libraries and background tasks
Can run multiple instances with --instance flag

Install the daemon to start automatically on system boot:

# Install LaunchAgent (macOS)
sd daemon install

# Check status
sd daemon status

# Uninstall
sd daemon uninstall

This creates a LaunchAgent at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spacedrive.daemon.plist that:

Starts daemon on user login
Restarts if it crashes
Logs to ~/Library/Application Support/spacedrive/logs/

Multi-Instance Support

Run multiple daemon instances for different data directories:

# Start with custom instance name
sd --instance work start
sd --instance personal start

# Each instance gets its own socket
# daemon-work.sock
# daemon-personal.sock

Configuration

The CLI stores configuration in ~/Library/Application Support/spacedrive/cli.json:

{
  "current_library_id": "uuid-here",
  "update": {
    "repo": "spacedriveapp/spacedrive-cli-releases",
    "channel": "stable"
  }
}

Config Commands

# View all configuration
sd config show

# Get specific value
sd config get update.repo

# Set value
sd config set update.repo "your-org/releases-repo"

Auto-Update System

The CLI includes a built-in update mechanism that fetches releases from a public GitHub repository.

Update Architecture

┌─────────┐                          ┌────────────┐
│sd update│ ──── GitHub API ────────►│  Releases  │
└─────────┘                          │ Repository │
     │                               └────────────┘
     │ Download binaries                   │
     ▼                                     │
┌─────────────────┐                       │
│ sd-macos-arm64  │◄──────────────────────┘
│ sd-daemon-...   │
└─────────────────┘
     │
     │ Atomic replacement
     ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Installed bins  │
└─────────────────┘

Update Process

Check for updates: Queries GitHub API for latest release
Download binaries: Fetches platform-specific binaries
Verify integrity: Checks file sizes match expected values
Atomic replacement: Replaces binaries with rollback on failure
Restart daemon: If daemon was running, restarts it

# Check and install updates
sd update

# Force reinstall current version
sd update --force

Release Repository Setup

The update system uses a public GitHub repository containing only releases (no source code):

Create public repo: your-org/spacedrive-cli-releases
For each release:
- Create empty commit: git commit --allow-empty -m "Release v0.1.0"
- Tag it: git tag v0.1.0
- Create GitHub release with binaries as assets
Configure CLI: sd config set update.repo "your-org/spacedrive-cli-releases"

The CI workflow automatically builds binaries for:

macOS (arm64, x86_64)
Linux (x86_64) - coming soon
Windows (x86_64) - coming soon

Command Structure

All CLI commands follow this pattern:

sd [--data-dir PATH] [--instance NAME] [--format FORMAT] <command> [args]

Global Flags

--data-dir - Override default data directory
--instance - Connect to specific daemon instance
--format - Output format: human (default) or json

Core Commands

Command	Description
`sd start`	Start the daemon
`sd stop`	Stop the daemon
`sd restart`	Restart the daemon
`sd status`	Show system status
`sd update`	Update CLI and daemon

Domain Commands

Command	Description
`sd library`	Manage libraries
`sd location`	Manage indexed locations
`sd file`	File operations
`sd index`	Indexing operations
`sd search`	Search files
`sd tag`	Tag management
`sd volume`	Volume operations
`sd device`	Device management
`sd job`	Job control
`sd network`	Networking and pairing
`sd logs`	View daemon logs
`sd config`	Configuration management
`sd daemon`	Daemon lifecycle

Binary Distribution

For development and testing, binaries can be distributed without building from source:

Build release binaries:

cargo build --release --bin sd-cli --bin sd-daemon

Copy both binaries to target machine:
- sd-cli → rename to sd
- sd-daemon → keep as sd-daemon

Place in PATH:

mv sd ~/.local/bin/
mv sd-daemon ~/.local/bin/
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/sd ~/.local/bin/sd-daemon

Remove quarantine (macOS):

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/.local/bin/sd
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/.local/bin/sd-daemon

Both binaries must be in the same directory as the CLI expects to find the daemon binary in its parent directory.

Development

Building

# Build CLI only
cargo build --package sd-cli

# Build both CLI and daemon
cargo build --bin sd-cli --bin sd-daemon

# Release build
cargo build --release --bin sd-cli --bin sd-daemon

Code Structure

apps/cli/
├── src/
│   ├── main.rs          # Entry point, daemon lifecycle
│   ├── config.rs        # CLI configuration
│   ├── context.rs       # Execution context
│   ├── domains/         # Command domains
│   │   ├── config/      # Config commands
│   │   ├── daemon/      # Daemon management
│   │   ├── update/      # Auto-update system
│   │   ├── library/     # Library operations
│   │   ├── location/    # Location operations
│   │   └── ...
│   └── util/            # Shared utilities
└── Cargo.toml

core/
└── src/
    └── bin/
        └── daemon.rs    # Daemon binary

Adding New Commands

Create a new module in domains/
Define command enum with clap derives
Implement run() function
Register in domains/mod.rs and main.rs

Example:

// domains/myfeature/mod.rs
use anyhow::Result;
use clap::Subcommand;

#[derive(Subcommand, Debug)]
pub enum MyFeatureCmd {
    /// Do something
    Action { arg: String },
}

pub async fn run(ctx: &Context, cmd: MyFeatureCmd) -> Result<()> {
    match cmd {
        MyFeatureCmd::Action { arg } => {
            // Implementation
        }
    }
    Ok(())
}

Security Considerations

Instance Name Validation

Instance names are validated to prevent path traversal:

Only alphanumeric, dash, and underscore allowed
Max 64 characters
Cannot be empty

Binary Verification

The update system verifies downloaded binaries:

File size must match release asset size
Future: SHA256 checksum verification

Daemon Socket Permissions

The Unix socket is created with restrictive permissions (user-only access).

Troubleshooting

Daemon Won’t Start

# Check if already running
sd status

# View logs
sd logs follow

# Reset data and restart
sd restart --reset

Update Fails

# Check configuration
sd config show

# Verify repo is accessible
curl https://api.github.com/repos/YOUR_ORG/YOUR_REPO/releases/latest

# Force clean reinstall
sd update --force

Socket Connection Errors

The daemon socket is located at:

~/Library/Application Support/spacedrive/daemon/daemon.sock

If connection fails:

Verify daemon is running: ps aux | grep sd-daemon
Check socket exists: ls -la <socket-path>
Restart daemon: sd restart

Architecture

File Management

Sync & Network

Development

Overview

Architecture

Daemon Management

Starting the Daemon

Multi-Instance Support

Configuration

Config Commands

Auto-Update System

Update Architecture

Update Process

Release Repository Setup

Command Structure

Global Flags

Core Commands

Domain Commands

Binary Distribution

Development

Building

Code Structure

Adding New Commands

Security Considerations

Instance Name Validation

Binary Verification

Daemon Socket Permissions

Troubleshooting

Daemon Won’t Start

Update Fails

Socket Connection Errors

Architecture

File Management

Sync & Network

Development

​Overview

​Architecture

​Daemon Management

​Starting the Daemon

​Auto-Start on Login

​Multi-Instance Support

​Configuration

​Config Commands

​Auto-Update System

​Update Architecture

​Update Process

​Release Repository Setup

​Command Structure

​Global Flags

​Core Commands

​Domain Commands

​Binary Distribution

​Development

​Building

​Code Structure

​Adding New Commands

​Security Considerations

​Instance Name Validation

​Binary Verification

​Daemon Socket Permissions

​Troubleshooting

​Daemon Won’t Start

​Update Fails

​Socket Connection Errors

Overview

Architecture

Daemon Management

Starting the Daemon

Auto-Start on Login

Multi-Instance Support

Configuration

Config Commands

Auto-Update System

Update Architecture

Update Process

Release Repository Setup

Command Structure

Global Flags

Core Commands

Domain Commands

Binary Distribution

Development

Building

Code Structure

Adding New Commands

Security Considerations

Instance Name Validation

Binary Verification

Daemon Socket Permissions

Troubleshooting

Daemon Won’t Start

Update Fails

Socket Connection Errors