Reference

The Litestream command line provides several subcommands to help you manage replication & recovery of your databases. This reference provides details about the options available and different modes of operation.

Configuration File#

• Configuration File — YAML file for defining databases, replicas, and global settings.

Commands#

The litestream commands are:

• litestream databases — Lists databases specified in config file.
• litestream ltx — List available LTX files for a database.
• litestream replicate — Runs a server to replicate databases.
• litestream reset — Clears local Litestream state, forcing a fresh snapshot on the next sync.
• litestream restore — Recovers database backup from a replica.
• litestream status — Reports local replication status for configured databases.
• litestream sync — Forces immediate WAL-to-LTX sync for a database.
• litestream version — Prints the binary version.
• litestream wal — List available WAL files for a database (deprecated).

Daemon Control Commands#

These commands communicate with a running litestream replicate daemon over the IPC control socket. They require a running daemon with the control socket enabled; the socket is disabled by default.

• litestream info — Shows daemon version, PID, and uptime.
• litestream list — Lists databases managed by the daemon.
• litestream register — Dynamically adds a database to the daemon.
• litestream unregister — Removes a database from the daemon.
• litestream start — Resumes replication for a stopped database.
• litestream stop — Pauses replication for a database.

MCP Server#

• MCP Server — Model Context Protocol integration for AI assistants, enabled via the replicate command’s mcp-addr config setting.

VFS Extension#

• litestream-vfs — Optional read-only VFS that serves replicas directly from object storage.

IPC Endpoints#

• IPC Endpoints — Unix socket endpoints for local status queries and profiling.

Prometheus Metrics#

• Prometheus Metrics — Reference for all metrics exported by Litestream.

JSON Output#

• JSON Output Reference — Stable schemas and conventions for -json CLI output.