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The Console tab in the Portal is your real-time window into your running server. It streams output as it happens and provides buttons to start, stop, restart, or forcefully kill your server.

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What you’ll learn

  • How to view live server output
  • How to use power actions (Start, Stop, Restart, Kill)
  • How to send shell commands in the console

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Viewing Live Output

Once your server is running, the Console tab streams its output in real time. Use it to:
  • Confirm that your application started successfully
  • Read startup errors and stack traces
  • Monitor live log output
If your server starts and immediately crashes, the console output almost always shows why.

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Power Actions

ActionEffect
StartStarts the server
StopSends a graceful stop signal to the running process
RestartStops the server and starts it again
KillImmediately and forcefully terminates the process
Use Kill only when the server is completely unresponsive and won’t stop with the normal Stop button.

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Sending Shell Commands

By default, the console input box sends text to your application’s stdin — useful for game servers or custom CLI interfaces. To run arbitrary shell commands instead (e.g., ls, node --version, pip install requests), you first need to configure your server to accept them.

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How to enable shell command input

  1. Go to the Startup tab of your server.
  2. Change the Startup Command to bash.
  3. Return to the Console tab and click Restart.
After restarting, the console input accepts shell commands directly.
With the startup command set to bash, your application will not start automatically. You must run it manually from the console, or restore your original startup command when you are done. See Startup Settings.

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Troubleshooting Common Issues

Check the console output for error messages. Common causes:
  • Wrong startup command (wrong filename or wrong syntax)
  • Missing entry point file (upload your files first)
  • Incorrect Docker image version
  • Missing dependencies (try running npm install or pip install -r requirements.txt manually via bash mode)
See Startup Settings and File Manager.
Your application may be writing logs to a file instead of stdout. Check if a log file exists in the file manager. Some frameworks require a specific flag to enable console output (e.g., disabling silent mode).
Make sure your server is running (green status). The console input is only active while the server process is alive.

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Next Steps