Run your worker in the background

A worker is a long-running process (npm start runs node src/index.js). For development you can keep it in a terminal; to leave it running, fob-worker procs manages it with pm2.

procs needs macOS or Linux and pm2 installed globally:

npm install -g pm2

Start, stop, restart#

From the worker repo's root:

fob-worker procs start       # pm2 process named after the folder, e.g. worker-acme
fob-worker procs logs        # tail its output (Ctrl-C to stop tailing)
fob-worker procs restart     # after changing code or .env
fob-worker procs stop

From anywhere else, name the worker by its folder name or pm2 name, or give start its path:

fob-worker procs start ~/work/worker-acme
fob-worker procs restart worker-acme

start refuses if the folder isn't a worker repo (its package.json must depend on @fob/lib-worker and have a main entry) or if that worker is already running.

What's running#

fob-worker procs list

PID    WORKER       MODE  PM2          PORT  UPTIME    STARTED
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
48211  worker-acme  pm2   worker-acme  -     02:14:09  Sat Oct  3 12:30:15 2026

procs list finds workers started with pm2 and workers started directly (npm start, node src/index.js), shown as direct. Only pm2 workers can be stopped, restarted or tailed with procs; stop a direct one in its terminal or with kill <pid>.

fob-worker procs monit opens pm2's live CPU and memory monitor.

One worker per location#

The Orchestrator gives each location to one worker at a time. If a second worker starts with the same WORKER_LOCATION, one of them is turned away and exits. Run one worker per location, and stop your local copy before starting the real one elsewhere.

Keeping it running after a reboot#

That's pm2's job: pm2 save and pm2 startup. See the pm2 docs.