Run App Skill

This skill builds and starts the Mendix application in Docker.

When to Use This Skill

Use this when:

• The user asks to run, start, or launch the app
• The user asks to rebuild and restart after making changes
• The user wants to test their changes in a running environment

Prerequisites Check

Before running, verify:

1. mxcli is local — always use ./mxcli, not mxcli
2. Docker is available — check with docker ps

Everything else (MxBuild, runtime, Docker stack) is auto-downloaded/initialized by docker run.

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Quick Start: One Command

# Setup, build, and start — handles everything automatically
./mxcli docker run -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --wait

This single command:

1. Downloads MxBuild (if not cached)
2. Downloads the Mendix runtime (if not cached)
3. Initializes the Docker stack (if not already done)
4. Builds the PAD package
5. Starts the containers in the background
6. Waits for "Runtime successfully started" (with --wait)

The app is available at: http://localhost:8080 Admin console: http://localhost:8090 (password: AdminPassword1!)

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After Making MDL Changes

Model/page/security changes (microflows, entities, pages, navigation):

# 1. apply MDL changes to the project
./mxcli exec changes.mdl -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr

# 2. Rebuild and hot reload (no restart, keeps database)
./mxcli docker build -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --skip-check
./mxcli docker reload -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr

Use docker reload for most changes — it reloads the model in ~100ms without restarting. Use docker run --fresh only when schema changes are destructive (dropped entities/attributes):

./mxcli docker run -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --fresh --wait

CSS/theme changes only (no rebuild needed):

# Instant CSS hot reload — pushes to all connected browsers
./mxcli docker reload -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --css

Or simply hard-refresh the browser (Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R) — the volume mount means compiled CSS is immediately available on disk after mxcli docker build.

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Step-by-Step Alternative

If you prefer more control over individual steps:

# First-time setup (cached, run once per devcontainer)
./mxcli setup mxbuild -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr
./mxcli setup mxruntime -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr
./mxcli docker init -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr

# build and start
./mxcli docker build -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr
./mxcli docker up -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --detach --wait

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Query Data (OQL)

Once the app is running, test OQL queries against the live runtime:

# run OQL queries (read-only preview mode)
./mxcli oql -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr "select Name from MyModule.Customer"

# json output for piping
./mxcli oql -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --json "SELECT count(c.ID) FROM MyModule.Order AS c"

Existing projects: If you get "Action not found: preview_execute_oql", re-initialize the Docker stack to pick up the required JVM flag: ./mxcli docker init -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --force

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Monitoring

# view live logs
./mxcli docker logs -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --follow

# view last 50 lines
./mxcli docker logs -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --tail 50

# open a shell in the Mendix container
./mxcli docker shell -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr

Look for this line to confirm successful startup:

Mendix runtime successfully started, the application is now available.

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Stop

# Stop containers (keeps database data)
./mxcli docker down -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr

# Stop and wipe database
./mxcli docker down -p MxCliDemoApp2.mpr --volumes

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Running Multiple Projects

When running multiple Mendix apps simultaneously, each project needs unique ports. Use --port-offset to shift all ports:

# First project (default ports: 8080/8090/5432)
./mxcli docker run -p project1/app.mpr --wait

# Second project (ports: 8081/8091/5433)
./mxcli docker init -p project2/app.mpr --port-offset 1
./mxcli docker run -p project2/app.mpr --wait

Offset	App	Admin	DB
0	8080	8090	5432
1	8081	8091	5433
2	8082	8092	5434

The offset is applied once during docker init and written to .docker/.env. Subsequent docker run/up/reload commands read from that .env automatically.

Note: If the Docker stack was already initialized, re-run init with --force: ./mxcli docker init -p app.mpr --port-offset 1 --force

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Architecture Note

The containers run inside a Docker-in-Docker daemon inside the devcontainer — they are not visible in Docker Desktop on the host. Port forwarding (8080, 8090) is handled by VS Code automatically.

The build output (.docker/build/) is volume-mounted into the container — no Docker image rebuild needed. After mxcli docker build:

• CSS/theme changes: Hard-refresh the browser — files are already on disk via the mount
• Model changes: Run mxcli docker reload — hot reloads the model in ~100ms, no restart needed
• Destructive schema changes: Restart with mxcli docker up --fresh to recreate the database