Run development services at named HTTPS URLs

Parcela connects a checkout to its service set. Keep a primary environment and several previews identifiable without managing browser-facing port numbers.

Project
├── Primary checkout
│   ├── frontend → my-app.localhost
│   ├── backend  → api-my-app.localhost
│   └── worker   → no HTTP route
└── Preview checkout, label review
    ├── frontend → review-my-app.localhost
    └── backend  → api-review-my-app.localhost

Caddy handles HTTPS. Process Compose handles processes, dependencies, logs and shutdown. Parcela owns environment identity, endpoint reservations, readiness and lifecycle coordination. Your project owns commands and data policy.

Experimental.

These guides describe the docs-site development branch, not a finished installer. Its service-set and bundled-skill changes are not merged into main yet. A reserved URL is not proof that a service is reachable. Separate names and runtime directories do not isolate application databases or uploads.

Choose your next task

You want to	Read
Build Parcela and prepare HTTPS	Build and host setup
Run your first frontend, API and worker	First environment
Keep primary and preview checkouts separate	Manage worktrees
Declare processes, ports and readiness	Configure service sets
Teach a coding agent to use Parcela	Work with an agent
Diagnose a failed start or lost controller	Troubleshoot and recover
Capture a paused copy, not active execution	Paused checkpoints
Look up exact fields and commands	Configuration and CLI
Check what is not implemented or certified	Supported scope

Keep the ownership boundary clear

Adoption registers an existing directory. It does not create a worktree, move a branch, prepare a database or start a service.

up starts one explicitly configured native graph. All declared HTTP services must become ready before its group routes open. down stops that selected environment without deleting source or data. restart creates a new generation. Qualified recover can reattach to a surviving native graph without replaying startup.

Ordinary commands do not install backends, trust a CA, take over listeners or expose a LAN interface. Start with your project’s instructions and its parcela.yaml, not a guessed framework recipe.