zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw · error · anyhow::Error

Service management is supported on macOS and Linux only

Error message

Service management is supported on macOS and Linux only

What it means

install() dispatches on the compiled target: macOS (launchd), Linux (init-system aware install_linux), Windows (install_windows via schtasks). Every other platform falls through to this bail. The message text predates Windows support, so in practice it only fires on builds for other Unixes such as FreeBSD, OpenBSD or illumos.

Source

Thrown at crates/zeroclaw-runtime/src/service/mod.rs:722

        .unwrap_or(false)
    {
        return true;
    }
    run_capture(Command::new("rc-service").args(linux_openrc_action_args(config, "status")))
        .map(|out| out.contains("started"))
        .unwrap_or(false)
}

pub fn install(config: &Config, init_system: InitSystem) -> Result<()> {
    if cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
        install_macos(config)
    } else if cfg!(target_os = "linux") {
        let resolved = init_system.resolve()?;
        install_linux(config, resolved)
    } else if cfg!(target_os = "windows") {
        install_windows(config)
    } else {
        anyhow::bail!("Service management is supported on macOS and Linux only");
    }
}

pub fn start(config: &Config, init_system: InitSystem) -> Result<()> {
    if cfg!(target_os = "macos") {
        // Ensure the Homebrew var directory exists before launchd tries to use it.
        // The plist may reference this path for WorkingDirectory and log files.
        let exe = std::env::current_exe().ok();
        if let Some(ref exe_path) = exe
            && let Some(var_dir) = homebrew_var_dir_from_exe(exe_path)
        {
            let _ = fs::create_dir_all(&var_dir);
        }
        let plist = macos_service_file()?;
        run_checked(Command::new("launchctl").arg("load").arg("-w").arg(&plist))?;
        run_checked(Command::new("launchctl").arg("start").arg(SERVICE_LABEL))?;
        println!("✅ Service started");
        Ok(())

View on GitHub (pinned to 88bb9c8533)

Solutions

1. Run zeroclaw as a plain foreground process under your platform's supervisor (rc.d, runit, s6) instead of 'service install'
2. Wrap 'zeroclaw run' in a platform-native service definition maintained outside the binary
3. Request or contribute platform support upstream

fn service_install_supported() -> bool {
    cfg!(any(target_os = "macos", target_os = "linux", target_os = "windows"))
}

When it happens

Trigger: Executing 'zeroclaw service install' on a platform none of the cfg! branches match; the code compiles there but service management is unimplemented.

Common situations: Porting the binary to a BSD; running an unofficial community build on a niche Unix; cross-compiling and smoke-testing service commands on a non-supported target.

Related errors

• Service log viewing is supported on macOS, Linux, and Window
• the OpenRC log writer is only supported on Linux
• the launchd daemon runner is only supported on macOS
• daemon child exited with status {status}
• Linux service {action} only manages the default zeroclaw ser

AI-assisted analysis of zeroclaw-labs/zeroclaw@88bb9c8533 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f8162bdde4a15b35. Report an issue: GitHub.