# CLI Reference

URL: /docs/configuration/cli/
Section: configuration
Tags: cli, command-line, reference

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Usage pounce APP [OPTIONS] The APP argument is a Python module path with an attribute, e.g. myapp:app. The app factory pattern is also supported: myapp:create_app(). Options Server Flag Default Description --host TEXT 127.0.0.1 Bind address --port INT 8000 Bind port --uds PATH — Unix domain socket path (mutually exclusive with --host/--port) --workers INT 1 Number of workers (0 = auto-detect) --backlog INT 2048 Socket listen backlog Timeouts Flag Default Description --keep-alive-timeout FLOAT 5.0 Keep-alive timeout (seconds) --header-timeout FLOAT 10.0 Max seconds to receive complete request headers (slowloris protection) --request-timeout FLOAT 30.0 Request timeout (seconds) --shutdown-timeout FLOAT 10.0 Shutdown grace period (seconds) Limits Flag Default Description --max-request-size INT 1048576 Max request body (bytes) --max-connections INT 10000 Max concurrent connections Logging Flag Default Description --log-level TEXT info Log level (debug/info/warning/error/critical) --log-format TEXT text Log output format (text or json) --no-access-log — Disable access logging 5xx responses are logged at WARNING level (instead of INFO) so they stand out visually and can be filtered separately. When --log-format json is set, all log output (including access logs) is emitted as structured JSON: {"timestamp": "2026-02-08T12:00:00+00:00", "level": "WARNING", "logger": "pounce.access", "method": "GET", "path": "/", "http_version": "1.1", "status": 500, "bytes_sent": 21, "duration_ms": 98.9, "client": "127.0.0.1:5000", "request_id": "a1b2c3d4e5f6..."} This is useful for log aggregation systems (ELK, Datadog, CloudWatch, etc.). Observability Flag Default Description --health-check-path TEXT — Path for built-in health endpoint (e.g. /health). Disabled by default. Features Flag Default Description --compression / --no-compression enabled Toggle content-encoding --server-timing disabled Enable Server-Timing header --reload disabled Watch files and restart on changes --reload-include TEXT — Extra file extensions to watch (comma-separated, e.g. ".html,.css,.md") --reload-dir PATH — Extra directory to watch (repeatable) TLS Flag Default Description --ssl-certfile PATH — TLS certificate file --ssl-keyfile PATH — TLS private key file Security Flag Default Description --max-requests-per-connection INT 0 Max requests per keep-alive connection (0 = unlimited) Other Flag Default Description --root-path TEXT "" ASGI root_path for reverse proxies --server-header TEXT pounce Server response header value Examples # Development pounce myapp:app --reload --log-level debug # Development with extra file watching pounce myapp:app --reload --reload-include ".html,.css,.md" --reload-dir ./templates # Production (TCP) pounce myapp:app --host 0.0.0.0 --workers 0 --no-access-log # Production with JSON logs (for log aggregation) pounce myapp:app --host 0.0.0.0 --workers 0 --log-format json # Production with Unix domain socket (behind nginx/caddy) pounce myapp:app --uds /run/pounce.sock --workers 0 # Production with health checks and slowloris protection pounce myapp:app \ --host 0.0.0.0 \ --workers 0 \ --health-check-path /health \ --header-timeout 10 \ --log-format json # TLS pounce myapp:app --ssl-certfile cert.pem --ssl-keyfile key.pem # Full production configuration pounce myapp:app \ --host 0.0.0.0 \ --port 443 \ --workers 4 \ --ssl-certfile cert.pem \ --ssl-keyfile key.pem \ --compression \ --server-timing \ --health-check-path /health \ --header-timeout 10 \ --log-level warning \ --log-format json See Also ServerConfig — Programmatic configuration Quickstart — Getting started guide

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