Add and run your first app in Moonpool

1. Start Moonpool

On Windows, run moonpool.exe and click Install Moonpool (see Installing). On Linux, start the AppImage or the installed package.

The first time Moonpool runs it fills the sidebar with example apps (Notepad on Windows, a shell, a small web server and the bundled dashboards). They run as they are (the web server needs Python), so you can try them, then edit or delete them. It also puts an icon in the system tray. On Windows, if you do not see the icon, click the ^ arrow at the right of the taskbar.

2. Add your app

1. Open the … menu at the top of the sidebar and choose Add app.
2. Enter a name. The group starts as Web apps; keep it or pick another.
3. Keep type as web for a dev server.
4. Set cwd to your project folder and command to what you type to start it, for example npm run dev.
5. Set port to the port it listens on, and url to the page to open.
6. Save.

The details of every field are in Adding apps.

3. Start it

Click the app’s Launch button (the play icon on its row). Its terminal tab opens and shows the output. The status dot pulses while the app is starting, then turns solid once its port answers. If openBrowser is on, the page opens.

Clicking the app’s name only opens its terminal tab. It never starts the app.

4. Stop it

Click the Stop button (the square) on the row. The dot turns grey.

If something stays running after Stop, see Stop and restart.

Let an agent do it

With no tab open, the CLI pane shows a Copy prompt button. Paste the prompt into an AI agent and it finds your apps and adds them. See AI agents: quick start.

Finding the hub later

• Left-click the tray icon to show the hub. Right-click it for a menu with Show Moonpool and Quit.
• By default, closing the window quits Moonpool. Turn on Close to tray in Settings to hide it to the tray instead and keep it running. See Tray, close and minimize.

Getting help

Help, in the … menu at the top of the sidebar, opens this help in its own window. It works offline and always matches the version you run.

Next

• Adding apps
• Troubleshooting