The Runtime accepts the following command-line arguments. Run the runtime with --help for an at-a-runtime listing, or --version for just the build stamp.
Project loading
Short
Long
Effect
-p
--project <file>
Load a specific project file on startup. Accepts a .prj or an encrypted .prjp. Default: default.prj.
-d
--key <key>
Decryption key for an encrypted .prjp project.
Autotest
Short
Long
Effect
-a
--autotest <seconds>
Run an autotest for <seconds> seconds, then exit with the autotest's result code.
-q
--quick-exit
Allow autotests to terminate the process quickly when done, skipping graceful shutdown overhead.
Licensing
Long
Effect
--licenserequired
Refuse to run without a valid licence. Use in production to avoid silent fallback to trial mode.
--license-file <path>
Override the path Composer looks at for license.lic. Useful when running multiple isolated instances on one host with different licences.
Logging
Short
Long
Effect
-l
--logpath <dir>
Override the directory log files are written into.
-w
--customlog <name>
Use a custom base name for the log files (the day-stamped suffix still applies).
--nodisklog
Disable disk logging entirely. Useful for short-lived containers shipping logs only to stdout.
--consoleonlyerrors
Limit console output to error-severity entries only.
-v
--verbose
Verbose console logging — useful during diagnostics.
FFmpeg
Long
Effect
--noffmpegversioncheck
Skip the FFmpeg version check at startup. Use when running with a newer or patched FFmpeg build.
Configuration overrides
Long
Effect
--settings-file <path>
Override the path Composer looks at for settings.xml.
Network ports
Each of these overrides the corresponding port from settings.xml. Useful when running multiple Runtime instances on one host or in CI.
Long
Effect
--http-api-port <port>
Override the HTTP API port (default 44433).
--websocket-port <port>
Override the WebSocket server port.
--prometheus-port <port>
Override the Prometheus metrics-endpoint port.
--runtime-api-port <port>
Port for the runtime-lifecycle API (default 9101, or the COMPOSER_RUNTIME_API_PORT environment variable when set).
Networking
Long
Effect
--force-localhost
Force every configured host endpoint (WebAPI, WebSocket, Loki, Prometheus, Runtime API) to bind to localhost only. Useful for CI / single-host testing where you don't want the runtime advertising on the LAN.
Diagnostics
Long
Effect
--remotedebug
Wait for a remote debugger to attach before continuing startup.
--no-mutex
Skip the single-instance mutex check, allowing multiple Runtime processes on one host (for parallel testing).
