Manage service

How to start, stop, or restart a service or change its start type with the Manage service action, and when the step fails.

Manage service controls a system service on the device: start, stop, restart, or change its start type. The device must be online.

Configuration fields

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
Service name	text	Yes	—	The service name, not the display name, for example `Spooler`. On Linux this is the systemd unit, on macOS the label of a system launch daemon. Supports variables `${{ … }}`.
Action	selection	Yes	Restart	Start, Stop, Restart, or Change start type
Start type	selection	Yes, for Change start type	Automatic	Automatic, Manual, or Disabled. Only shown when Action is Change start type. Automatic is the regular automatic start, not a delayed start

You can find the service name in the device's Services tab, next to the display name.

Platform support

Platform	Supported
Windows	Yes
Linux	Yes, except Change start type
macOS	Yes, except Change start type

Outputs

Output	Description
`success`	Succeeded: `true` if the device carried out the action, otherwise `false`. Missing if the device did not answer
`serviceName`	Service name: the service name with variables resolved

Result behaviour

Case	Result
The service is unknown (except for Stop on Windows and macOS), access is denied, or the operating system rejects the action	Failed. The error message is in the step details
The service name is empty after variables are resolved	Failed
Change start type on Linux or macOS	Failed
The device is offline when the step starts	Device offline. Depending on If device is offline, the run ends with this status or the step is skipped.
The device does not answer in time	Timed out, the outcome is unknown

You can safely repeat Start and Stop. If the service is already running, Start succeeds and leaves it alone. On Windows, Stop on a service that is already stopped also counts as success. On Windows and macOS, Stop even succeeds for a service that does not exist on the device, so a typo in the name goes unnoticed.

Restart stops a running service and starts it again. A stopped service is simply started. The agent waits up to 25 seconds for a service to start or stop. If it takes longer, the step fails or times out.

Platform details:

Linux: If a unit fails to start, the agent enables it and tries once more. If that works, the unit now also starts at boot.
macOS: Start loads a launch daemon that is not loaded yet from /Library/LaunchDaemons/<name>.plist.

Stopping or restarting a service interrupts every application and user that depends on it. With Disabled, the service does not start until you change the start type again. Test on a single device first, and limit Windows-only steps with a condition.

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