@architect-engine/daemon

The Architect Engine Daemon — a native background service that gives SDK applications access to OS-level capabilities the browser cannot provide: local process execution, workflow engine, connector dispatch, and real-time database sync.

Install

npm install -g @architect-engine/daemon

The postinstall script automatically registers the daemon as a system service (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux). The daemon starts immediately and restarts automatically at every login — no further configuration needed.

Commands

architect-engine status    # Check if daemon is running (pid, port)
architect-engine stop      # Stop the running daemon (service registration preserved)
architect-engine restart   # Restart the daemon
architect-engine install   # Register as system service (auto-start on login)
architect-engine uninstall # Remove system service registration
architect-engine run       # Run daemon directly in the foreground (dev mode)

What the Daemon Provides

| Capability | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Local process execution | Spawn and manage OS processes on behalf of SDK workflows | | Workflow engine | Multi-step workflow execution with retry, timeout, and failure handling | | Connector dispatch | Route SDK executeAction() calls to local processes and external services | | Database sync | Real-time replication between local SQLite and Turso cloud | | WebSocket API | SDK connects via ws://127.0.0.1:3002 — works from any browser tab or process | | Unix Domain Sockets | Local IPC for managed subprocess orchestration (macOS/Linux only) |

Supported Platforms

| Platform | Architecture | Binary | |----------|-------------|--------| | macOS | Apple Silicon (arm64) | @architect-engine/daemon-darwin-arm64 | | macOS | Intel (x64) | @architect-engine/daemon-darwin-x64 | | Linux | x64 (musl static) | @architect-engine/daemon-linux-x64 | | Windows | x64 | @architect-engine/daemon-win32-x64 |

npm automatically selects the correct platform package via optionalDependencies. The bin/architect-daemon.js shim resolves the native binary and delegates all args — no platform-specific install steps needed.

Architecture

The daemon is the OS-capabilities layer of the Architect Engine stack:

Your App
  └─ @architect-engine/sdk         TypeScript SDK — all API calls go here
       └─ DaemonAdapter            WebSocket client (ws://127.0.0.1:3002)
            └─ architect-engine    Native Rust binary running as system service
                 └─ bridge crate   Process runner, connector dispatch, UDS IPC

SDK without daemon — works, but no local process execution or connector dispatch. Daemon without SDK — useless server with nobody to call it.

What's in the npm Package

The platform package (@architect-engine/daemon-{platform}) contains:

• A compiled Rust binary (~24MB) — the complete daemon, zero source code
• The binary cannot be reverse-engineered to Rust source

The wrapper package (@architect-engine/daemon) contains:

• bin/architect-daemon.js — 40-line Node.js shim that finds and exec's the correct binary
• scripts/postinstall.js — registers the system service after npm install -g

Zero source code. Zero Rust. Zero database schemas. Zero engine logic.

Files

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | package.json | npm manifest — optionalDependencies selects the correct platform package | | bin/architect-daemon.js | Platform-agnostic shim — resolves native binary and delegates all argv | | scripts/postinstall.js | npm postinstall — runs architect-engine install to register system service |

Dependencies

Depends on: @architect-engine/daemon-{platform} (optionalDependencies — npm selects correct one at install time)

Depended on by: Any machine running apps that call executeAction() through @architect-engine/sdk