--- type: docs title: Multi-App Run overview linkTitle: Multi-App Run overview weight: 1000 description: Run multiple applications with one CLI command --- {{% alert title="Note" color="primary" %}} Multi-App Run for **Kubernetes** is currently a preview feature. {{% /alert %}} Let's say you want to run several applications locally to test them together, similar to a production scenario. Multi-App Run allows you to start and stop a set of applications simultaneously, either: - Locally/self-hosted with processes, or - By building container images and deploying to a Kubernetes cluster - You can use a local Kubernetes cluster (KiND) or one deploy to a Cloud (AKS, EKS, and GKE). The Multi-App Run template file describes how to start multiple applications as if you had run many separate CLI `run` commands. By default, this template file is called `dapr.yaml`. {{< tabs Self-hosted Kubernetes>}} {{% codetab %}} ## Multi-App Run template file When you execute `dapr run -f .`, it starts the multi-app template file (named `dapr.yaml`) present in the current directory to run all the applications. You can name template file with preferred name other than the default. For example `dapr run -f ./.yaml`. The following example includes some of the template properties you can customize for your applications. In the example, you can simultaneously launch 2 applications with app IDs of `processor` and `emit-metrics`. ```yaml version: 1 apps: - appID: processor appDirPath: ../apps/processor/ appPort: 9081 daprHTTPPort: 3510 command: ["go","run", "app.go"] - appID: emit-metrics appDirPath: ../apps/emit-metrics/ daprHTTPPort: 3511 env: DAPR_HOST_ADD: localhost command: ["go","run", "app.go"] ``` For a more in-depth example and explanation of the template properties, see [Multi-app template]({{< ref multi-app-template.md >}}). ## Locations for resources and configuration files You have options on where to place your applications' resources and configuration files when using Multi-App Run. ### Point to one file location (with convention) You can set all of your applications resources and configurations at the `~/.dapr` root. This is helpful when all applications share the same resources path, like when testing on a local machine. ### Separate file locations for each application (with convention) When using Multi-App Run, each application directory can have a `.dapr` folder, which contains a `config.yaml` file and a `resources` directory. Otherwise, if the `.dapr` directory is not present within the app directory, the default `~/.dapr/resources/` and `~/.dapr/config.yaml` locations are used. If you decide to add a `.dapr` directory in each application directory, with a `/resources` directory and `config.yaml` file, you can specify different resources paths for each application. This approach remains within convention by using the default `~/.dapr`. ### Point to separate locations (custom) You can also name each app directory's `.dapr` directory something other than `.dapr`, such as, `webapp`, or `backend`. This helps if you'd like to be explicit about resource or application directory paths. ## Logs The run template provides two log destination fields for each application and its associated daprd process: 1. `appLogDestination` : This field configures the log destination for the application. The possible values are `console`, `file` and `fileAndConsole`. The default value is `fileAndConsole` where application logs are written to both console and to a file by default. 1. `daprdLogDestination` : This field configures the log destination for the `daprd` process. The possible values are `console`, `file` and `fileAndConsole`. The default value is `file` where the `daprd` logs are written to a file by default. ### Log file format Logs for application and `daprd` are captured in separate files. These log files are created automatically under `.dapr/logs` directory under each application directory (`appDirPath` in the template). These log file names follow the pattern seen below: - `_app_.log` (file name format for `app` log) - `_daprd_.log` (file name format for `daprd` log) Even if you've decided to rename your resources folder to something other than `.dapr`, the log files are written only to the `.dapr/logs` folder (created in the application directory). ## Watch the demo Watch [this video for an overview on Multi-App Run](https://youtu.be/s1p9MNl4VGo?t=2456): {{% /codetab %}} {{% codetab %}} ## Multi-App Run template file When you execute `dapr run -k -f .` or `dapr run -k -f dapr.yaml`, the applications defined in the `dapr.yaml` Multi-App Run template file starts in Kubernetes default namespace. > **Note:** Currently, the Multi-App Run template can only start applications in the default Kubernetes namespace. The necessary default service and deployment definitions for Kubernetes are generated within the `.dapr/deploy` folder for each app in the `dapr.yaml` template. If the `createService` field is set to `true` in the `dapr.yaml` template for an app, then the `service.yaml` file is generated in the `.dapr/deploy` folder of the app. Otherwise, only the `deployment.yaml` file is generated for each app that has the `containerImage` field set. The files `service.yaml` and `deployment.yaml` are used to deploy the applications in `default` namespace in Kubernetes. This feature is specifically targeted only for running multiple apps in a dev/test environment in Kubernetes. You can name the template file with any preferred name other than the default. For example: ```bash dapr run -k -f ./.yaml ``` The following example includes some of the template properties you can customize for your applications. In the example, you can simultaneously launch 2 applications with app IDs of `nodeapp` and `pythonapp`. ```yaml version: 1 common: apps: - appID: nodeapp appDirPath: ./nodeapp/ appPort: 3000 containerImage: ghcr.io/dapr/samples/hello-k8s-node:latest createService: true env: APP_PORT: 3000 - appID: pythonapp appDirPath: ./pythonapp/ containerImage: ghcr.io/dapr/samples/hello-k8s-python:latest ``` > **Note:** > - If the `containerImage` field is not specified, `dapr run -k -f` produces an error. > - The `createService` field defines a basic service in Kubernetes (ClusterIP or LoadBalancer) that targets the `--app-port` specified in the template. If `createService` isn't specified, the application is not accessible from outside the cluster. For a more in-depth example and explanation of the template properties, see [Multi-app template]({{< ref multi-app-template.md >}}). ## Logs The run template provides two log destination fields for each application and its associated daprd process: 1. `appLogDestination` : This field configures the log destination for the application. The possible values are `console`, `file` and `fileAndConsole`. The default value is `fileAndConsole` where application logs are written to both console and to a file by default. 2. `daprdLogDestination` : This field configures the log destination for the `daprd` process. The possible values are `console`, `file` and `fileAndConsole`. The default value is `file` where the `daprd` logs are written to a file by default. ### Log file format Logs for application and `daprd` are captured in separate files. These log files are created automatically under `.dapr/logs` directory under each application directory (`appDirPath` in the template). These log file names follow the pattern seen below: - `_app_.log` (file name format for `app` log) - `_daprd_.log` (file name format for `daprd` log) Even if you've decided to rename your resources folder to something other than `.dapr`, the log files are written only to the `.dapr/logs` folder (created in the application directory). ## Watch the demo Watch [this video for an overview on Multi-App Run in Kubernetes](https://youtu.be/nWatANwaAik?si=O8XR-TUaiY0gclgO&t=1024): {{% /codetab %}} {{< /tabs >}} ## Next steps - [Learn the Multi-App Run template file structure and its properties]({{< ref multi-app-template.md >}}) - [Try out the self-hosted Multi-App Run template with the Service Invocation quickstart]({{< ref serviceinvocation-quickstart.md >}}) - [Try out the Kubernetes Multi-App Run template with the `hello-kubernetes` tutorial](https://github.com/dapr/quickstarts/tree/master/tutorials/hello-kubernetes)