Background Daemon

The daemon runs in the background, polling your vault and automatically syncing files. Installed by default during dhd init.

Installation

Platform	Service	Location
macOS	launchd	`~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.daemon-hound.plist`
Linux	systemd	`~/.config/systemd/user/daemon-hound.service`
Windows	Task Scheduler	User-level task

How it works

Every 30 seconds, fetch from the Git remote
Compare local vs. remote state
Pull new files, restore to correct local paths
Detect local changes and push
On conflict: attempt smart merge; if unresolvable, halt

Management

Shell

dhd daemon run              # Run in foreground (debugging)
dhd daemon start            # Start background daemon
dhd daemon status           # Check state
dhd daemon stop             # Stop daemon
dhd daemon restart          # Restart daemon
dhd daemon logs -f          # Follow logs
dhd daemon errors -f        # Follow error logs
dhd daemon resume           # Resume after halt

Conflict behavior

When the daemon can smart-merge, it does. True conflicts halt the daemon:

Syncing pauses for the conflicted namespace
Halt reason visible in dhd status and web UI
Resolve with dhd conflicts resolve or the web UI
dhd daemon resume to restart syncing

Logging

daemon.log — general output (rotated at 10 MB)
daemon.error.log — errors only (rotated at 5 MB)
30-day retention, hourly rotation

Security

Runs as current user — no elevation
Only contacts your configured Git remote
Logs at ~/.dh/ (0700)
No telemetry, no third-party connections

No file watching. Polling-only at 30s intervals. Watch-based mode planned for v1.2.0.

Removal

Shell

dhd cleanup --force

Stops and uninstalls the daemon, removes ~/.dh/, clears keychain. Does not affect the remote vault.

Concepts Secrets