nself exec

Execute a command inside a running nSelf service container by service name.

Quick start

# Open an interactive shell in the Postgres container
nself exec db bash

# Run a one-off psql query
nself exec db psql -U postgres -c "SELECT count(*) FROM np_users;"

# Tail Hasura logs live
nself exec api tail -f /var/log/hasura/server.log

Synopsis

nself exec <SERVICE> [COMMAND...] [FLAGS]

Description

nself exec is the nSelf-aware equivalent of docker exec. It resolves the service name to the correct container using the active environment and project name, so you never need to look up the full container ID or prefix.

When COMMAND is omitted, the command defaults to an interactive shell (bash or sh, whichever is available in the container). The terminal is allocated a pseudo-TTY automatically unless --no-tty is passed.

Service names match the entries in nself status: db,api, auth, storage, search,mail, redis, admin. Custom services use theCS_N key from your env file or the service alias if you have set one.

Service names

Flags

Examples

Open an interactive Postgres shell

nself exec db psql -U postgres

Run a database migration manually

nself exec db psql -U postgres -d nself -f /migrations/001_add_index.sql

Inspect Hasura metadata

nself exec api cat /hasura/metadata/tables.yaml

Check Redis memory usage

nself exec redis redis-cli info memory

Run a command non-interactively (pipe-friendly)

nself exec db --no-tty psql -U postgres -c "\l" | grep nself

Execute as a specific user

nself exec db --user postgres bash

Access a custom service container

# If CS_1 alias is "ping_api"
nself exec ping_api sh

Exec into a staging container

nself exec db --env staging psql -U postgres -c "SELECT version();"

Environment variables

• NSELF_ENV — default target environment when --env is not specified

Exit codes

• 0 — command completed successfully
• 1 — generic error (service not found, container not running)
• 2 — invalid arguments
• Any non-zero exit code from the executed command is forwarded directly.

Related

• nself logs — stream logs from a service without exec
• nself status — list running services and their health
• nself db — database-specific operations (migrations, seeds, console)