tld serve

tld serve launches a complete tlDiagram web app right on your machine. Same editor that powers tldiagram.com, running locally with an embedded SQLite database.

tld serve

What you get

A full tlDiagram editor at http://127.0.0.1:8060. You can:

• Create and edit architecture diagrams visually
• Use all keyboard shortcuts (WASD navigation, C to add nodes, etc.)
• Export and import YAML workspace files
• View diagrams generated by tld watch and tld analyze

Everything stays on your machine. No data leaves unless you explicitly push to the cloud with tld apply.

Modes

Background (default)

tld serve

Starts the server as a background process. Prints connection details and exits the terminal. The server keeps running.

────────────────────────────────────
  Mode             background
  PID              12345
  Server status    using existing local data
  Bind address     127.0.0.1:8060
  DB               ~/.local/share/tldiagram/tld.db
  Config path      ~/.config/tldiagram/tld.yaml
────────────────────────────────────
  tlDiagram available at:  http://127.0.0.1:8060
────────────────────────────────────
  Run 'tld stop' to shut down the server

If a server is already running, it tells you instead of starting a second one.

Host and port

# Custom port
tld serve --port 9090

# Bind to all interfaces (accessible from other machines)
tld serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

Defaults: 127.0.0.1:8060. Set permanently in your global config:

tld config set serve.port 9090

Or via environment variables: PORT=9090 or TLD_ADDR=:9090.

Data directory

The local server stores its SQLite database and logs in a data directory:

~/.local/share/tldiagram/
  tld.db       # SQLite database
  server.log   # Server logs
  tld.pid      # Process ID file

Override with --data-dir or TLD_DATA_DIR:

tld serve --data-dir /custom/path

Tip

Configure these in your global config to avoid passing flags every time:

What’s stored locally

The local server is fully self-contained:

• Diagrams: Stored in SQLite. Populated by tld watch or tld analyze
• Logs: Written to server.log in the data directory
• Config: Read from your global tld config file

When the server won’t start

If the port is already in use, change it:

tld serve --port 8061

If the data directory isn’t writable, check permissions or use a different path:

tld serve --data-dir /tmp/tld-test

Check the logs:

cat ~/.local/share/tldiagram/server.log