Profiles#

This page explains how to run several independent OpenProgram instances side by side on one machine — the common case being a stable instance for daily use and a development instance for hacking on the code.

Profiles: isolated state directories#

By default all state (config / sessions / logs / memory) lives in ~/.openprogram/. With a profile it moves to ~/.openprogram-<name>/, and the two instances share no data:

openprogram --profile dev            # CLI global flag
OPENPROGRAM_PROFILE=dev openprogram  # or the env var — equivalent (the flag wins if both are set)

--profile is a global flag: put it before the subcommand and it applies to every subcommand — openprogram --profile dev sessions list, openprogram --profile dev restart, and so on.

Ports: one per instance#

Each instance listens on a single port (API, WebSocket, and the web UI together). The default is 18100. Three ways to change it:

# 1. Persist into that profile's config (recommended — no flags needed on later starts)
openprogram --profile dev ports --port 18200

# 2. Environment variable, override one run
OPENPROGRAM_WEB_PORT=18200 openprogram web

# 3. Command-line flag, this `openprogram web` invocation only
openprogram web --web-port 18200

ports writes into the current profile's config, so each profile remembers its own ports.

Example: stable + development pair#

The stable instance uses the default profile and default port; the development instance uses the dev profile on 18200:

# Stable instance (daily use)
openprogram web                        # http://localhost:18100

# Development instance: write the port into the dev profile (once)
openprogram --profile dev ports --port 18200

# From then on, start it like this
openprogram --profile dev web          # http://localhost:18200

Each instance has its own sessions, config, logs, and background worker; openprogram status reports on the default instance, openprogram --profile dev status on the development one.

On Linux, persistent workers are isolated too. Install each profile from its own command context and OpenProgram creates a separate systemd user service:

openprogram worker install
openprogram --profile dev worker install

After that, worker start, stop, restart, status, and uninstall only operate on the active profile's service. Stopping or upgrading the dev worker does not replace or stop the default worker.