Advanced service access

The high-level CLI commands cover normal operation. Use towbar compose and towbar exec when troubleshooting requires a Docker Compose operation that Towbar does not wrap directly.

These commands can stop services, remove containers, or delete control-plane data when given destructive Docker Compose arguments. Review the exact command before running it. Never use global docker system prune or docker volume prune as a Towbar maintenance step.

`towbar compose`

Run a Docker Compose command against the active Towbar release with its project name, environment file, immutable service images, and source commit already supplied.

Syntax

sudo towbar compose COMMAND [ARG...]

Parameter	Required	Accepted value	Behavior
`COMMAND`	Yes	A Docker Compose subcommand	Selects the Compose operation, such as `ps` or `config`.
`ARG...`	No	Arguments accepted by that subcommand	Passed to Docker Compose without reinterpretation.

List all containers
Render configuration
Stop without deleting data

sudo towbar compose ps --all

sudo towbar compose config

Rendered output can include resolved configuration. Store and share it as sensitive operational data.

sudo towbar compose down --remove-orphans

This removes Towbar containers and its network while retaining named volumes, installed releases, images, and /etc/towbar/towbar.env.

The CLI requires at least one Compose subcommand. Refer to the Docker Compose command reference for the options accepted after COMMAND. Use the higher-level alternatives when possible:

Instead of	Prefer	Reason
`towbar compose ps`	`towbar status`	Clear intent and shorter syntax
`towbar compose logs ...`	`towbar logs ...`	Applies Towbar’s default tail limit
`towbar compose up ...`	`towbar restart`	Validates runtime and gateway configuration before replacement
Manually replacing release images or links	`towbar upgrade`	Verifies release metadata, migrations, health, and rollback

`towbar exec`

Run one command in a running Towbar service container.

Syntax

sudo towbar exec SERVICE COMMAND [ARG...]

Parameter	Required	Accepted value	Behavior
`SERVICE`	Yes	A running Towbar Compose service name	Selects the container to enter.
`COMMAND`	Yes	An executable available in the image	Runs directly through `docker compose exec`.
`ARG...`	No	Arguments for the executable	Passed to the command without shell evaluation.

Check PostgreSQL readiness

sudo towbar exec postgres pg_isready -U towbar -d towbar

Inspect the API process environment keys

sudo towbar exec api sh -lc 'env | cut -d= -f1 | sort'

towbar exec does not start a stopped service and does not select a replica. The service must already be running. Avoid commands that print secret values or mutate the database outside a documented recovery procedure.

Service names

The Compose project defines these service identifiers:

api
gateway
gateway-public
migrate
postgres
temporal
temporal-namespace
temporal-schema
temporal-ui
web-app
worker

Local installations run gateway; public HTTPS installations run gateway-public. migrate, temporal-schema, and temporal-namespace are one-time jobs and normally are not available for towbar exec after startup.

Recovery boundaries

towbar compose down --volumes permanently deletes the control-plane PostgreSQL volume, including Towbar state and Temporal history. It does not delete application or resource volumes on deployment servers. Follow the uninstall guide and verify a database backup plus the matching TOWBAR_CREDENTIALS_KEY before using it. Container changes made through towbar exec are ephemeral and disappear when the service is recreated. Put lasting configuration in /etc/towbar/towbar.env, validate it, and apply it with towbar restart.

Get started

Self-host Towbar

CLI

Migrate to Towbar

Advanced service access

`towbar compose`

`towbar exec`

Service names

Recovery boundaries

​towbar compose

​towbar exec

​Service names

​Recovery boundaries

`towbar compose`

`towbar exec`

Service names

Recovery boundaries