---

author:

- Dwayne Bent <dbb.1@liqd.org>

- Kim Alvefur

date: 2022-02-02

section: 1

title: PROSODYCTL

---

# NAME

prosodyctl - Manage a Prosody XMPP server

# SYNOPSIS

    prosodyctl command [--help]

# DESCRIPTION

prosodyctl is the control tool for the Prosody XMPP server. It may be

used to control the server daemon and manage users.

prosodyctl needs to be executed with sufficient privileges to perform

its commands. This typically means executing prosodyctl as the root

user. If a user named "prosody" is found then prosodyctl will change to

that user before executing its commands.

# COMMANDS

## User Management

In the following commands users are identified by a Jabber ID, jid, of

the usual form: user@domain.

adduser jid

:   Adds a user with Jabber ID, jid, to the server. You will be prompted

    to enter the user's password.

passwd jid

:   Changes the password of an existing user with Jabber ID, jid. You

    will be prompted to enter the user's new password.

deluser jid

:   Deletes an existing user with Jabber ID, jid, from the server.

## Daemon Management

Although prosodyctl has commands to manage the prosody daemon it is

recommended that you utilize your distributions daemon management

features if you attained Prosody through a package.

To perform daemon control commands prosodyctl needs a pidfile value

specified in `/etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua`. Failure to do so will cause

prosodyctl to complain.

start

:   Starts the prosody server daemon. If run as root prosodyctl will

    attempt to change to a user named "prosody" before executing. This

    operation will block for up to five seconds to wait for the server

    to execute.

stop

:   Stops the prosody server daemon. This operation will block for up to

    five seconds to wait for the server to stop executing.

restart

:   Restarts the prosody server daemon. Equivalent to running prosodyctl

    stop followed by prosodyctl start.

reload

:   Signals the prosody server daemon to reload configuration and reopen

    log files.

status

:   Prints the current execution status of the prosody server daemon.

## Certificates

prosodyctl can create self-signed certificates, certificate requests and

private keys for use with Prosody. Commands are of the form

`prosodyctl cert subcommand`. Commands take a list of hosts to be

included in the certificate.

`request hosts`

:   Create a certificate request (CSR) file for submission to a

    certificate authority. Multiple hosts can be given, sub-domains are

    automatically included.

`generate hosts`

:   Generate a self-signed certificate.

`key host [size]`

:   Generate a private key of 'size' bits (defaults to 2048). Invoked

    automatically by 'request' and 'generate' if needed.

`config hosts`

:   Produce a config file for the list of hosts. Invoked automatically

    by 'request' and 'generate' if needed.

`import hosts paths`

:   Copy certificates for hosts into the certificate path and reload

    prosody.

## Debugging

prosodyctl can also show some information about the environment,

dependencies and such to aid in debugging.

`about`

:   Shows environment, various paths used by Prosody and installed

    dependencies.

`check [what]`

:   Performs various sanity checks on the configuration, DNS setup and

    configured TLS certificates. `what` can be one of `config`, `dns`

    `certs`, `disabled` and `connectivity` to run only that check.

## Ejabberd Compatibility

ejabberd is another XMPP server which provides a comparable control

tool, ejabberdctl, to control its server's operations. prosodyctl

implements some commands which are compatible with ejabberdctl. For

details of how these commands work you should see ejabberdctl(8).

    register user server password

    unregister user server

# OPTIONS

`--config filename`

:   Use the specified config file instead of the default.

`--root`

:   Don't drop root privileges (e.g. when invoked with sudo).

`--help`

:   Display help text for the specified command.

`--verbose`

:   Increase log level to show debug messages.

`--quiet`

:   Reduce log level to only show errors.

`--silent`

:   Disable logging completely, leaving only command output.

# FILES

`/etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua`

:   The main prosody configuration file. prosodyctl reads this to

    determine the process ID file of the prosody server daemon and to

    determine if a host has been configured.

# ONLINE

More information may be found online at: <https://prosody.im/>