Server

thesis server

Manage a local Thesis Core server.

thesis server [command] [options]

Description: "Manage a Thesis core server."

thesis server start

Start the Thesis Server.

thesis server start [options]

• Arguments

  • None

• Options

Option	Description	Default	Required?
-d, --detach	Run server in background		No
-p, --port <port>	The port to run the server on	42421	No
--root-dir <path>	Root directory for notebooks	Computed default (see Notes)	No

• Examples

Foreground:

thesis server start

Background (writes logs to a file):

thesis server start --detach

Use a non-default port:

thesis server start --port 50000

• Notes
  • Creates ~/.thesis if it does not exist.
  • Writes a PID file at ~/.thesis/pids/server.json and cleans up stale ones from previous runs.
  • In detached mode, stdout/stderr are appended to ~/.thesis/logs/server.log.
  • If a prior server is already running it does not start a new one; it reports the existing PID.
  • Fails with a clear error if the port is already in use.

thesis server mcp start

Start the Thesis Core server and print MCP (Model Context Protocol) connection info.

thesis server mcp start [options]

• Arguments

  • None

• Options

Option	Description	Default	Required?
-p, --port <port>	The port to run the server on	42421	No
--root-dir <path>	Root directory for notebooks	Computed default	No

• Examples

thesis server mcp start
thesis server mcp start --port 50000

• Notes
  • Always runs in foreground (no --detach flag).
  • After start-up, prints the MCP URL http://localhost:<port>/mcp and a ready-to-paste .cursor/mcp.json snippet.
  • Kills any previous server recorded in ~/.thesis/pids/server.json before starting.

thesis server stop

Stop the Thesis Server.

thesis server stop

• Arguments

  • None

• Options

  • None

• Examples

thesis server stop

• Notes
  • Reads the PID file at ~/.thesis/pids/server.json, performs a graceful shutdown (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL if needed), and removes the PID file.
  • If the PID file is stale (process not alive), it is removed and the command reports that the server was not running.

thesis server status

Check whether the Thesis Server is running.

thesis server status

• Arguments

  • None

• Options

  • None

• Examples

thesis server status

• Notes
  • Prints the running PID when alive; otherwise reports "not running" and cleans up a stale PID file.