Service presets experimental

A service preset runs a common server for local development. It supplies the command, the tool to install, a readiness check, a data directory, and the connection variables your application reads.

Experimental

Daemons are experimental. Enable them with experimental = true under [settings]; see Requirements.

Preset	Tool	Default port	Named ports	Also needs
postgres	postgres	5432	None
redis	redis	6379	None
cockroachdb	cockroach	26257	http_port 8080
nats	nats-server	4222	monitor_port 8222	curl on PATH
spicedb	spicedb	50051	http_port 8443, metrics_port 9090	curl on PATH

NATS and SpiceDB use curl for their HTTP readiness checks.

Local development only

The presets listen on loopback addresses and use either no authentication or a fixed development key. Use them only on a trusted local machine. For shared or untrusted environments, write a custom daemon with proper authentication and network restrictions.

Declare a preset

Name the entry after the preset and give a version request:

[daemons]
postgres = "18"
redis = "8"

Use a table to run a second instance of a preset, or to change its port, options, or data directory. The table's name becomes the daemon's name:

[daemons.analytics]
preset = "postgres"
version = "18"
port = 5433
options.database = "analytics"

A preset installs its server from the tool in the table above. Set tool to install it from a different tool instead. See Daemon keys for every key a preset accepts.

Presets get no proxy hostname, because their clients do not speak HTTP. See Per-daemon proxy settings to change that.

Connection variables and tool versions

Each preset exports connection variables, listed in its section below. They are available through mise env, mise exec, and tasks. Explicit [env] values override a preset's exports. If several instances export the same variable, the last declaration wins; use [env] to choose the instance your application uses.

An explicit [tools] version must satisfy the preset's version request. For example, postgres = "18.1" in [tools] satisfies a preset requesting "18". Instances that share a tool must use the same version request.

Ports

Each preset listens on its default port, and on its named ports if it has any. Set port for a different port, port = "auto" to give each Git worktree its own, or ports.<name> to move a named port. See Ports.

Preset options

Set options on a preset instance, for example options.database = "app". File paths resolve relative to the project root, and a leading ~/ expands to your home directory. mise checks option types and formats when it loads the config. Database names can contain only letters, numbers, and underscores.

Options used during first initialization, such as database names and CockroachDB cluster settings, do not change existing data when you change them. SpiceDB migrations run on every start and use the current datastore options.

PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL uses the postgres user with local trust authentication. Set options.database to create a database during first initialization; it defaults to postgres. Changing it later does not create another database in an existing cluster.

PostgreSQL does not run as root. Run mise as a regular user to start it, for example with USER in a container image. As root, starting a PostgreSQL daemon or provider fails before mise installs anything.

Exports: PGHOST, PGPORT, PGUSER, PGDATABASE, and DATABASE_URL.

Redis

Redis enables append-only persistence and has no options.

Exports: REDIS_URL.

CockroachDB

CockroachDB runs a single insecure node with the root database user.

Option	Default	Purpose
database	"defaultdb"	Database named in exported connection strings
databases	[]	Databases to create during first initialization
settings	[]	Cluster setting assignments to apply during first initialization
locality	""	Node locality passed to --locality
max_offset	""	Clock offset limit passed to --max-offset, such as "500ms"

database selects the database in the connection strings; it does not create one. Include the name in databases to create it. Each settings entry is an assignment such as "sql.defaults.vectorize = 'off'"; mise prefixes it with SET CLUSTER SETTING.

A databases entry can set a primary region with name=region. Declare the same region in locality so it exists during initialization:

[daemons.crdb]
preset = "cockroachdb"
version = "26"
options.database = "app"
options.databases = ["app=us-east-2"]
options.locality = "region=us-east-2"

Exports: COCKROACH_HOST, COCKROACH_URL, and DATABASE_URL.

NATS

NATS enables JetStream by default and stores its data in the daemon's data directory.

Option	Default	Purpose
jetstream	true	Enable JetStream when no configuration file is supplied
config	""	Path to a NATS configuration file
tls_cert, tls_key	""	Paths to the server certificate and private key
tls_ca	""	Path to a CA certificate for verifying client certificates

When config is set, that file controls whether JetStream is on and where it stores data. mise then passes no JetStream or storage flags, and the jetstream option has no effect.

Set both tls_cert and tls_key to enable TLS. tls_ca requires those two and turns on client certificate verification.

Exports: NATS_URL and NATS_MONITORING_URL. With TLS on, NATS_URL uses the tls:// scheme so clients connect over TLS.

SpiceDB

SpiceDB uses an in-memory datastore by default, so its authorization data is lost when the process stops. To keep it, set both a datastore_engine other than memory and a datastore_uri. Setting only one is an error.

Option	Default	Purpose
datastore_engine	"memory"	Backing datastore engine
datastore_uri	""	Connection URI for the backing datastore
datastore_daemon	""	Local daemon to wait for before starting
preshared_key	"mise-dev-key"	gRPC preshared key

With a persistent datastore, mise runs spicedb migrate head before every start. Set datastore_daemon when another daemon hosts the datastore, as in the example below. It sets the start order only: datastore_uri is a literal string, so it does not follow that daemon's automatic port. If the port changes, update the URI too.

Exports: SPICEDB_ENDPOINT and SPICEDB_PRESHARED_KEY.

Example: CockroachDB, SpiceDB, and NATS

This config stores application data and SpiceDB's authorization data in separate CockroachDB databases, with NATS for messaging:

[settings]
experimental = true

[daemons.crdb]
preset = "cockroachdb"
version = "26"
options.database = "app"
options.databases = ["app", "spicedb"]

[daemons.spicedb]
preset = "spicedb"
version = "1"
options.datastore_engine = "cockroachdb"
options.datastore_uri = "postgresql://root@127.0.0.1:26257/spicedb?sslmode=disable"
options.datastore_daemon = "crdb"

[daemons.events]
preset = "nats"
version = "2"

Run mise daemons start to start all three. On first initialization, mise creates the app and spicedb databases. Once CockroachDB is ready, mise runs spicedb migrate head and then starts SpiceDB. The migration runs on every start, so it applies pending schema changes after an upgrade or a datastore reset.

options.database = "app" selects the database in the exported DATABASE_URL and COCKROACH_URL; options.databases lists the databases to create.

Windows

• The redis preset has no Windows build.
• The other presets run under pitchfork's default cmd /C shell. A different windows_shell is not supported.
• PostgreSQL stops cleanly only with pitchfork 2.29.0 or later, which sends it Ctrl+C. Older releases terminate it, and it recovers on the next start.
• PostgreSQL refuses to run with administrative rights. Do not start it from an elevated prompt, or from a supervisor running as an administrator.
• Windows reserves some port ranges for Hyper-V and WSL. List them with netsh interface ipv4 show excludedportrange protocol=tcp, and if a preset's port falls in one, set port or ports to another.
• Shared server providers are not available on Windows.