systemd Service (Linux)¶

OpenJarvis includes a systemd unit file for running the API server as a managed background service on Linux. This provides automatic startup on boot, crash recovery, and integration with standard Linux service management tools.

Prerequisites¶

Before installing the service, ensure that:

OpenJarvis is installed in a virtual environment at /opt/openjarvis/.venv (or adjust paths accordingly).
A dedicated openjarvis system user exists (recommended for security).
An inference engine (such as Ollama) is running and accessible.

Create the user and installation directory:

sudo useradd --system --create-home --home-dir /opt/openjarvis openjarvis
sudo -u openjarvis python3 -m venv /opt/openjarvis/.venv
sudo -u openjarvis git clone https://github.com/open-jarvis/OpenJarvis.git /opt/openjarvis/OpenJarvis
cd /opt/openjarvis/OpenJarvis && sudo -u openjarvis uv sync --extra server

Installing the Service¶

Copy the unit file to the systemd directory, reload the daemon, and enable the service:

sudo cp deploy/systemd/openjarvis.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable openjarvis
sudo systemctl start openjarvis

Verify it is running:

sudo systemctl status openjarvis

Service File Reference¶

The provided unit file at deploy/systemd/openjarvis.service:

[Unit]
Description=OpenJarvis API Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=openjarvis
WorkingDirectory=/opt/openjarvis
ExecStart=/opt/openjarvis/.venv/bin/jarvis serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
Environment=HOME=/opt/openjarvis

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

`[Unit]` Section¶

Directive	Value	Description
`Description`	`OpenJarvis API Server`	Human-readable name shown in `systemctl status` and logs.
`After`	`network.target`	Delays startup until the network stack is available, since the server binds to a network socket and may need to reach a remote engine.

`[Service]` Section¶

Directive	Value	Description
`Type`	`simple`	The process started by `ExecStart` is the main service process. systemd considers the service started immediately.
`User`	`openjarvis`	Runs the server as the `openjarvis` user rather than root, limiting the blast radius of any security issue.
`WorkingDirectory`	`/opt/openjarvis`	Sets the working directory for the process. This is where OpenJarvis looks for local files and writes data.
`ExecStart`	`/opt/openjarvis/.venv/bin/jarvis serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000`	The command to start the server. Uses the full path to the `jarvis` binary inside the virtual environment.
`Restart`	`on-failure`	Automatically restarts the service if it exits with a non-zero exit code. Does not restart on clean shutdown (`systemctl stop`).
`RestartSec`	`5`	Waits 5 seconds before attempting a restart, preventing rapid restart loops if the service crashes immediately on startup.
`Environment`	`HOME=/opt/openjarvis`	Sets the `HOME` environment variable so OpenJarvis finds its configuration at `~/.openjarvis/config.toml` (resolving to `/opt/openjarvis/.openjarvis/config.toml`).

`[Install]` Section¶

Directive	Value	Description
`WantedBy`	`multi-user.target`	The service starts when the system reaches multi-user mode (standard boot target for servers). `systemctl enable` creates a symlink under this target.

Configuration Options¶

Changing the Bind Address and Port¶

Edit the ExecStart line to change the host or port:

ExecStart=/opt/openjarvis/.venv/bin/jarvis serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 9000

Tip

Binding to 127.0.0.1 restricts access to localhost only. Use this when running behind a reverse proxy like Nginx or Caddy.

Setting the Engine and Model¶

Pass additional flags to jarvis serve:

ExecStart=/opt/openjarvis/.venv/bin/jarvis serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --engine ollama --model qwen3:8b

Adding Environment Variables¶

Add multiple Environment directives or use EnvironmentFile for complex configurations:

[Service]
Environment=HOME=/opt/openjarvis
Environment=OPENJARVIS_ENGINE_DEFAULT=vllm
Environment=OPENJARVIS_OLLAMA_HOST=http://localhost:11434

Or load from a file:

[Service]
EnvironmentFile=/opt/openjarvis/.env

Changing the User¶

If you prefer a different service user, update both the User directive and the paths:

[Service]
User=myuser
WorkingDirectory=/home/myuser/openjarvis
ExecStart=/home/myuser/openjarvis/.venv/bin/jarvis serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
Environment=HOME=/home/myuser/openjarvis

Using a Configuration File¶

Ensure the configuration file exists at the path where HOME points:

sudo -u openjarvis mkdir -p /opt/openjarvis/.openjarvis
sudo -u openjarvis cp config.toml /opt/openjarvis/.openjarvis/config.toml

The server reads ~/.openjarvis/config.toml on startup, where ~ resolves from the HOME environment variable.

Viewing Logs¶

OpenJarvis logs are captured by journald. View them with journalctl:

# View all logs for the service
sudo journalctl -u openjarvis

# Follow logs in real time
sudo journalctl -u openjarvis -f

# View logs since the last boot
sudo journalctl -u openjarvis -b

# View logs from the last hour
sudo journalctl -u openjarvis --since "1 hour ago"

# View only error-level messages
sudo journalctl -u openjarvis -p err

Managing the Service¶

Start, Stop, and Restart¶

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start openjarvis

# Stop the service
sudo systemctl stop openjarvis

# Restart the service (stop + start)
sudo systemctl restart openjarvis

# Reload configuration without full restart (sends SIGHUP)
sudo systemctl reload-or-restart openjarvis

Check Status¶

sudo systemctl status openjarvis

Example output:

● openjarvis.service - OpenJarvis API Server
     Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/openjarvis.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2026-02-21 10:00:00 UTC; 2h ago
   Main PID: 12345 (jarvis)
      Tasks: 4 (limit: 4915)
     Memory: 256.0M
        CPU: 1min 23s
     CGroup: /system.slice/openjarvis.service
             └─12345 /opt/openjarvis/.venv/bin/python /opt/openjarvis/.venv/bin/jarvis serve --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Enable and Disable on Boot¶

# Enable automatic start on boot
sudo systemctl enable openjarvis

# Disable automatic start on boot
sudo systemctl disable openjarvis

Apply Changes After Editing the Unit File¶

After modifying /etc/systemd/system/openjarvis.service, reload the systemd daemon and restart the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart openjarvis

Running Alongside Ollama¶

If Ollama is also managed via systemd, you can add an ordering dependency so the OpenJarvis service waits for Ollama to start:

[Unit]
Description=OpenJarvis API Server
After=network.target ollama.service
Requires=ollama.service

Directive	Description
`After`	Ensures OpenJarvis starts after Ollama.
`Requires`	If Ollama fails to start, OpenJarvis will not start either.

Note

Use Wants instead of Requires if you want OpenJarvis to start even when Ollama is unavailable (for example, if you plan to start Ollama manually later).