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dexcli dev runs a complete Dex on your machine: Dex Server and Dex Web. Use it to build and test Flows before you deploy.

Install dexcli

dexcli runs on macOS and Linux, on amd64 and arm64. Windows is not supported. The Linux archive may run under WSL 2; the docs do not cover it.

With Homebrew, on macOS or Linux:

brew install superdurable/tap/dexcli
brew update && brew upgrade superdurable/tap/dexcli   # when you want the latest

Without Homebrew, download the archive for your system from the dexcli releases. Each release has a cli-v tag and one archive per system, such as dexcli_vVERSION_linux_amd64.tar.gz. The archive holds dexcli and dex-server-zd. Keep both files in the same directory on your PATH:

tar xzf dexcli_vVERSION_linux_amd64.tar.gz   # VERSION is the release you downloaded
sudo mv dexcli dex-server-zd /usr/local/bin/
dexcli version

The release also has checksums.txt to verify the download.

Start Dex

dexcli dev

dexcli dev starts Dex Server (server-zd) and Dex Web. It stores state on local disk, in RocksDB and an embedded s3local object store. When the default ports are free, the addresses are:

ServiceAddress
Dex Webhttp://127.0.0.1:8802
Dex Server127.0.0.1:8801

dexcli dev first prints server log lines. When Dex is ready, it ends with a summary like this:

Dex development environment is ready

Dex Web:       http://127.0.0.1:8802
Connectors MCP: http://127.0.0.1:8802/mcp
Dex Server:    127.0.0.1:8801
State dir:     /Users/you/.dex/zd/8801

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Point your Workers and Clients at the Dex Server address. Open the Dex Web address in a browser. The state directory keeps your Flows across restarts of dexcli dev.

Troubleshooting

  • A Worker or Client fails to connect. Check that dexcli dev is still running and printed Dex development environment is ready. Use the Dex Server address that it printed. The examples read it from DEX_FLOW_SERVICE_ADDRESS and default to 127.0.0.1:8801.
  • A port is taken. dexcli dev then picks other free ports and prints them. To choose the ports yourself, pass -dex-port and -web-port.
  • The Worker is ready, but nothing runs. Check that the Worker and the start command register the same Flow, and that they connect to the same Dex Server. Dex Web lists the Flow and shows the Step that waits.
  • You want a clean start. Stop dexcli dev and delete its state directory. Every Flow is lost.

Run a second Dex

A second dexcli dev on the same machine picks other free ports and its own state directory. Pass the Dex Server address that it prints to -server.

Reference

The CLI reference covers every command, its flags, and the persistence options of dexcli dev.

Next

Your Application: Your Dex application is the code you deploy.