MildStack CLI

The MildStack CLI lets you control your local AWS environment directly from the terminal. It's a single binary with no dependencies — just download and run.

Commands

Starting an Instance

# Start on the default port (4566)
mildstack start

# Start on a specific port
mildstack start 8080

# Start in the background
mildstack start --detach

When you run mildstack start, the runtime starts an AWS-compatible API server on the specified port. All three services (S3, DynamoDB, SQS) are available immediately.

Listing Instances

# Human-readable output
mildstack instances

# Machine-readable JSON output
mildstack instances --json

This shows all instances that MildStack knows about, including their port, status (running or stopped), and endpoint URL.

Checking Status

mildstack status

Shows detailed information about the currently running instance, including active services and their health.

Stopping Instances

# Stop a specific instance by port
mildstack stop 4566

# Stop all running instances
mildstack stop --all

Stopping an instance shuts down the API server but preserves all data. You can restart on the same port to resume where you left off.

Deleting Instances

# Delete a specific instance by port
mildstack delete 4566

# Delete all instances
mildstack delete --all

Global Flags

Data Storage

All instance data is stored locally on your machine under ~/.mildstack/. Each instance keeps its own isolated data directory, so multiple instances running on different ports never interfere with each other.

~/.mildstack/
├── instances/
│   ├── active/        # Currently tracked instances
│   └── saved/         # Instance metadata
├── config/            # Configuration files
└── logs/              # Runtime logs

Next Steps