Exit codes and environment variables

If you run cohostly from a script, two things matter: the number it exits with, and the variables that change how it behaves.

Exit codes

An exit code is a small number a program leaves behind when it stops. 0 means all went well. Anything else means something did not.

0

Success. Also: you answered n to the deploy question, and a logs -f follow that the platform ended after 60 minutes.

1

Every failure. A bad flag, a missing project, a refused request, a failed deploy, no arguments, an unknown command.

2

Only from deploy: the settings needed your confirmation, there was no terminal to ask in, and you used --draft. Nothing was deployed.

130

You pressed Ctrl-C at a hidden prompt (secrets set or ai-keys set).

127

Only from dev: your command could not start. Otherwise dev returns your command's own exit code.

Two commands pass on the code of something else:

snapshot and check return the exit status of the capture tool.
types --project sets the exit code from the result of its check.

Current behaviour: a deploy that is built but held for approval exits 0 when you deploy a folder, and 1 when you deploy from a .cohostly/ folder. See put an app online and deploy what already runs.

Environment variables

API_URL

Which Cohostly API to talk to. Default https://api.cohostly.cloud.

PLATFORM_API_KEY

A key used instead of the saved one. It wins over credentials.json. Meant for CI.

PLATFORM_CONFIG_DIR

The folder that holds credentials.json. Default ~/.config/cohostly.

PLATFORM_NO_BROWSER

Set to any value and open prints the address without launching a browser.

PLATFORM_VERBOSE

Set to 1 and deploy prints every build line. Same as --verbose.

VISUAL, EDITOR

The editor opened by the [e]dit answer in the deploy question. Default vi (notepad on Windows).

COHOSTLY_RAILPACK

Path to your own Railpack program. It is checked first, before the downloaded one. It must be the exact version the CLI expects.

COHOSTLY_CAPTURE

Path to your own capture program for snapshot and check. An error if the file does not exist.

HOME

Where the CLI keeps its downloaded tools and cached public keys, under ~/.cohostly/.

Good to know The names are exactly API_URL and PLATFORM_API_KEY. There is no COHOSTLY_API_KEY and no COHOSTLY_API_URL.

Fatal: TypeError: fetch failed

You may see this:

Fatal: TypeError: fetch failed
    at ...

It means the CLI could not reach the platform at all, and the command had no tidy message for that. The cause is nearly always one of these:

You have no internet connection, or a proxy or firewall blocks it.
API_URL points somewhere wrong. Check echo $API_URL.

It exits with code 1. Fix the connection or the address and run the command again.

Some commands print a clearer line instead, Failed to connect to API at <url>: <message>. These are deploy, versions, promote, rollback, backup, backups, restore, logs, manifest check and ls. The commands that show the Fatal: line are secrets, token, ai-keys, bindings, cost, dev, types, whoami, open, schedules, share, domains, ship and approvals. The cure is the same for both.

Any other uncaught error prints Fatal: <error>, with a stack trace, and exits with 1.

No help flags

--help, -h and --version are not supported. They print Unknown command: <x>, then the command list, and exit with 1. Plain cohostly prints the list and also exits with 1.

Where the CLI keeps files

~/.config/cohostly/credentials.json

Your saved key, one per API address. Mode 0600. Moved by PLATFORM_CONFIG_DIR.

~/.cohostly/tools/

The build planner, downloaded once.

~/.cohostly/keys/

The cached public key used by pack and snapshot to seal values.