foreman

foreman command [options]

foreman is a process manager for Procfile-based applications. It reads a Procfile that declares the processes that comprise your application and runs them in development, making it easy to manage multiple processes.A Procfile defines process types as lines with format name: command. For example: web: python app.py and worker: python worker.py. Foreman starts all defined processes and forwards their output to the terminal.Foreman also loads environment variables from .env files and can export process definitions to system init formats like systemd, upstart, or launchd for production deployment.

start

Start all processes defined in the Procfile

Validate Procfile format

Run a one-off command using the app's environment

Export processes to another format (systemd, upstart, etc.)

Specify an alternate Procfile

Specify an alternate application root

Specify environment file(s) to load

Specify process formation (e.g., web=2,worker=1)

Specify starting port number

Specify shutdown timeout

Procfile

Defines process types as name:command lines (e.g., web: python app.py).

Environment variables loaded automatically by foreman.

foreman is primarily designed for development environments. For production, export to a proper process manager. Port assignment is sequential starting from the -p value, which may conflict with existing services.

foreman was created by David Dollar at Heroku in 2011 as a way to manage Procfile-based applications locally. The Procfile format became a standard for defining process types in twelve-factor applications and is used by many PaaS providers.

pm2(1)