CLI Reference

Horsies provides a clap-based CLI (horsies) for running workers, the scheduler, and validation checks. In Rust, tasks are registered at compile time, so the CLI takes a configuration source (config file path or database URL) instead of a Python module path.

Commands

horsies worker

Start a task worker.

horsies worker [CONFIG] [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

Argument	Description
CONFIG	Path to a config file (TOML/JSON) or database URL (positional, optional)

Options:

Option	Default	Description
-m, --module CONFIG	—	Config source (alternative to positional argument; takes precedence)
-q, --queues QUEUES	default	Comma-separated queue names
-c, --concurrency N	CPU count	Maximum concurrent tasks
--max-claim-batch N	2	Max claims per queue per pass
--max-claim-per-worker N	0	Max total claimed tasks (0=auto)
--coalesce-notifies N	100	NOTIFY messages to drain per wake
--loglevel LEVEL	info	debug, info, warning, error

Examples:

# Start worker with a config file
horsies worker ./config/horsies.toml

# Start worker with a database URL
horsies worker -m "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/mydb"

# Custom concurrency and queues
horsies worker ./config/horsies.toml -q high,low --concurrency 8

# Debug logging
horsies worker ./config/horsies.toml --loglevel debug

# Production settings
horsies worker ./config/horsies.toml --concurrency 8 --max-claim-batch 4 --loglevel warning

Programmatic Alternative

In most Rust projects, you start the worker directly in your binary:

use horsies::{Horsies, AppConfig, WorkerConfig};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let mut app = Horsies::new(AppConfig::for_database_url("postgresql://..."))?;

    // Register tasks
    my_task::register(&mut app)?;

    // Start worker with defaults
    app.run_worker().await?;

    // Or with custom config
    let worker_config = WorkerConfig {
        concurrency: 8,
        queues: vec!["high".into(), "low".into()],
        ..Default::default()
    };
    app.run_worker_with(worker_config).await?;

    Ok(())
}

horsies scheduler

Start the scheduler service.

horsies scheduler [CONFIG] [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

Argument	Description
CONFIG	Path to a config file or database URL

Options:

Option	Default	Description
-m, --module CONFIG	—	Config source (alternative to positional argument)
--loglevel LEVEL	info	debug, info, warning, error
--check-interval N	from config	Override check interval in seconds (1-60)
--dry-run	false	Validate schedules without starting the loop

Examples:

# Start scheduler
horsies scheduler ./config/horsies.toml

# Debug logging
horsies scheduler ./config/horsies.toml --loglevel debug

# Validate schedules without running
horsies scheduler ./config/horsies.toml --dry-run

Programmatic alternative:

app.run_scheduler().await?;

horsies check

Validate configuration, task registration, and optionally broker connectivity without starting services.

For details on validation phases, see Startup Validation.

horsies check [CONFIG] [OPTIONS]

Arguments:

Argument	Description
CONFIG	Path to a config file or database URL

Options:

Option	Default	Description
-m, --module CONFIG	—	Config source (alternative to positional argument)
--loglevel LEVEL	warning	debug, info, warning, error
--live	false	Also connect to PostgreSQL, ensure the Horsies schema, and run SELECT 1

Examples:

# Validate config and task registration
horsies check ./config/horsies.toml

# Include broker connectivity check
horsies check ./config/horsies.toml --live

Programmatic alternative:

app.check()?;
// or with live DB check:
app.check_live().await?;

horsies get-docs

Fetch the full documentation locally as markdown files. Useful for AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.) that need to read docs without web requests.

horsies get-docs [OPTIONS]

Options:

Option	Default	Description
--output DIR	.horsies-docs	Output directory

Examples:

# Fetch docs to default location
horsies get-docs

# Custom output directory
horsies get-docs --output my-docs/

# Update existing docs (idempotent -- overwrites cleanly)
horsies get-docs

Uses git sparse checkout when git is available, falls back to tarball download otherwise. No app instance or database connection required.

Agent Skills (Repository)

If you are using an AI coding agent from a source checkout, Horsies also ships guidance-oriented skill files in:

horsies/.agents/skills/

Available files:

• SKILL.md — quick orientation and routing
• tasks.md — task authoring, send/retry, serialization, error handling
• workflows.md — DAG construction, handles, failure semantics, validation
• configs.md — configuration, scheduling, CLI checks, environment variables

These files are documentation-focused (no bundled scripts) and are intended for on-demand loading by agents that support markdown skill files.

Process Signals

Both commands handle graceful shutdown:

Signal	Behavior
SIGTERM	Graceful shutdown
SIGINT (Ctrl+C)	Graceful shutdown

Workers wait for running tasks to complete before exiting.

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Clean shutdown
1	Error (check logs)

Environment Variables

export DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...
horsies worker "$DATABASE_URL"

The CLI does not inject DATABASE_URL into config files or load .env automatically. Use a config file path as the positional argument, or pass the database URL directly as the config source.

Logging can be controlled with RUST_LOG:

# Fine-grained log control
RUST_LOG=horsies=debug,sqlx=warn horsies worker ./config/horsies.toml

When RUST_LOG is set, it takes precedence over the --loglevel flag.

Deployment

Systemd

[Unit]
Description=Horsies Worker
After=postgresql.service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=app
WorkingDirectory=/app
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/myapp-worker
Restart=always
Environment=DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Docker

FROM rust:1.75 AS builder
WORKDIR /app
COPY . .
RUN cargo build --release

FROM debian:bookworm-slim
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y libssl3 ca-certificates && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
COPY --from=builder /app/target/release/myapp-worker /usr/local/bin/
CMD ["myapp-worker"]

Procfile

worker: ./target/release/myapp-worker
scheduler: ./target/release/myapp-scheduler