Kythia CLI

Kythia Workspace is powered by an ultra-fast, native command-line interface (kythia.ps1). It acts as an all-in-one controller for your local Windows web development environment—a true native replacement for legacy tools like XAMPP and Laragon.

The kythia executable is automatically added to your system PATH upon installation, allowing you to control your environment from PowerShell, CMD, or any terminal.

Core Commands

`kythia help`

Displays the dynamic FIGlet banner and comprehensive command usage guide. You can also run kythia with no arguments to see this screen.

`kythia about`

Displays architecture details, author information, and the currently installed CLI & Core version.

`kythia version`

Instantly prints the installed Kythia Workspace CLI and Core version. Aliases: -v, --version, -version

Environment & Diagnostics

`kythia status`

Checks and prints the real-time status of your environment without the banner:

Running system services: mysqld, nginx, php-cgi, postgres, caddy, redis-server, frankenphp
Active local ports: Checks if 80, 443, 3306, 5432, 6379, 8000, 8080 are listening and shows which Process ID is occupying them.
Installed Runtimes: Lists all downloaded PHP & Node.js versions available in C:\kythia\bin.

`kythia doctor`

Runs environment diagnostics to inspect core ports (80, 443, 3306, etc.). It automatically alerts you if external applications (like Skype, IIS, or other servers) are hijacking required ports, helping you pinpoint and resolve conflicts instantly.

Runtime Management

`kythia php <version>`

Switches the active global PHP version in the current user's Windows PATH.

kythia php 8.3

Behavior: Instantly prepends the targeted C:\kythia\bin\php\8.3 path to your User environment variables so all terminal instances globally point to the correct PHP version.

`kythia node <version>`

Switches the active global Node.js version in the current user's Windows PATH.

kythia node 20

Behavior: Prepends the targeted C:\kythia\bin\node\20 path to your User environment variables.

Site Management (Virtual Hosts)

`kythia site create <domain>`

Scaffolds a new local web development site & virtual host automatically.

kythia site create myproject.test

What happens under the hood:

Creates the root web directory at C:\kythia\www\myproject.test with a default index.html.
Generates a FastCGI/PHP Nginx configuration block at C:\kythia\bin\nginx\conf\sites-enabled\myproject.test.conf.
Automatically appends 127.0.0.1 myproject.test to your Windows hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts).

`kythia site list`

Lists all currently configured local virtual hosts detected in C:\kythia\bin\nginx\conf\sites-enabled.

Service Control

`kythia start <service>`

Starts background services directly from the CLI. Available services: nginx, mysql, postgres, caddy, redis

kythia start nginx

`kythia stop <service>`

Stops active services by name, or forcefully terminates all Kythia development processes at once using all.

kythia stop mysql
kythia stop all

(Note: kythia stop all will gracefully kill mysqld, nginx, php-cgi, postgres, caddy, redis-server, and frankenphp)

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