📖 Guide

PM2 — Complete Reference

Production process manager for Node.js — process management, cluster mode, monitoring, logs, deployment, and ecosystem configuration.

53 commands across 8 categories

Process Management Monitoring Cluster Mode Logs Startup Scripts Configuration (ecosystem.config.js)Deploy Common Patterns

Process Management

Command	Description
`pm2 start app.js`	Start an application
`pm2 start app.js --name my-app`	Start with a custom name
`pm2 stop my-app`	Stop a process by name or id
`pm2 restart my-app`	Restart a process
`pm2 reload my-app`	Zero-downtime reload (for networked apps)
`pm2 delete my-app`	Remove process from PM2 list
`pm2 start app.js --watch`	Start and watch for file changes
`pm2 start app.js -- --port 3000`	Pass arguments to the script (after --)

Monitoring

Command	Description
`pm2 list`	List all running processes
`pm2 monit`	Open real-time monitoring dashboard
`pm2 show my-app`	Show detailed info about a process
`pm2 status`	Alias for pm2 list
`pm2 prettylist`	List processes in JSON format (pretty-printed)
`pm2 jlist`	List processes as raw JSON
`pm2 describe 0`	Show full metadata for process id 0

Cluster Mode

Command	Description
`pm2 start app.js -i max`	Start in cluster mode with max CPUs
`pm2 start app.js -i 4`	Start with 4 cluster instances
`pm2 scale my-app +2`	Add 2 more instances to a cluster
`pm2 scale my-app 6`	Scale cluster to exactly 6 instances
`pm2 reload my-app`	Zero-downtime reload all cluster instances
`pm2 start app.js -i -1`	Start with max CPUs minus 1

Logs

Command	Description
`pm2 logs`	Stream logs from all processes
`pm2 logs my-app`	Stream logs for a specific process
`pm2 logs --lines 200`	Show last 200 lines of logs
`pm2 flush`	Clear all log files
`pm2 reloadLogs`	Reload all log streams (for log rotation)
`pm2 logs my-app --err`	Show only error logs
`pm2 install pm2-logrotate`	Install log rotation module

Startup Scripts

Command	Description
`pm2 startup` e.g. pm2 startup systemd	Generate startup script for current OS
`pm2 save`	Save current process list for auto-restart
`pm2 unstartup`	Remove the startup script
`pm2 resurrect`	Manually restore previously saved processes
`pm2 save --force`	Force save (overwrite existing dump)

Configuration (ecosystem.config.js)

Command	Description
`pm2 init simple`	Generate a simple ecosystem.config.js file
`pm2 start ecosystem.config.js`	Start all apps defined in config
`pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --only my-app`	Start only a specific app from config
`pm2 start ecosystem.config.js --env production`	Start with production environment variables
`module.exports = { apps: [{ name: 'api', script: './api.js', instances: 4, exec_mode: 'cluster' }] }`	Ecosystem config with cluster mode
`env_production: { NODE_ENV: 'production', PORT: 3000 }`	Define environment-specific variables in config

Deploy

Command	Description
`pm2 deploy production setup`	Setup remote deployment target
`pm2 deploy production`	Deploy to production
`pm2 deploy production revert 1`	Revert to previous deployment
`pm2 deploy production curr`	Show current deployed commit
`pm2 deploy production list`	List previous deployments
`pm2 deploy production exec 'pm2 reload all'`	Execute a command on remote host

Common Patterns

Command	Description
`pm2 start npm -- start`	Run npm start as a PM2 process
`pm2 start npx -- serve -s build`	Run npx command under PM2
`pm2 start app.js --max-memory-restart 300M`	Auto-restart if memory exceeds 300MB
`pm2 start app.js --cron-restart='0 /4 * *'`	Restart on a cron schedule (every 4 hours)
`pm2 start app.js --exp-backoff-restart-delay=100`	Exponential backoff on crash restarts
`pm2 start app.py --interpreter python3`	Run a Python script with PM2
`pm2 start app.js --no-autorestart`	Start without automatic restart on crash
`pm2 kill`	Kill the PM2 daemon and all processes

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