Starting Dream Locally

Starting Dream Locally

When to use

• "Start Dream"
• "Bring up the local cloud"
• "Daemonize Dream"
• dream commands fail because no universe is running
• dream --help looks different from what was expected

Preflight

docker version
dream --help        # determines which workflow this binary supports

If the help output shows a start subcommand, use the newer workflow. If it shows new multiverse, use the older workflow.

Newer workflow — dream start

Run in its own terminal so logs stream visibly:

dream start

Common options (from dream start --help):

Default universe name with dream start: default. Verify with:

dream status universe default

If dream status universe default fails with universe does not exist (wording may vary), the multiverse may be up but no universe node was created yet — create one:

dream new universe default

Then re-run dream status universe default.

Custom universe example:

dream start --universes dev
dream status universe dev

To create more universes after Dream is running:

dream new universe <name>

Older workflow — dream new multiverse

dream new multiverse --daemon
dream new multiverse --daemon --universes blackhole
dream new multiverse --daemon --universes blackhole,dev

Options:

Default universe name with dream new multiverse: blackhole (unless --universes overrides it). Verify with:

dream status universe blackhole

Universe naming rule (critical)

dream status and most dream subcommands take the universe as a positional argument. The name must match exactly what the multiverse was started with:

Querying the wrong universe fails with universe \blackhole` does not exist` (or similar).

Recommended local default

Unless the user requests otherwise, use the newer workflow with the default universe:

dream start
# in another terminal:
dream status universe default

This keeps every downstream skill (tau select cloud --universe default, dream inject ... default, etc.) working without ambiguity.

Gotchas

• dream start is foreground by design. It streams logs in that terminal. Run it in a dedicated terminal/tab; don't background it with & unless you have log redirection set up.
• Dream binary version drift. If you've been working off two different machines, the available subcommands may differ. Always run dream --help first when on a fresh machine.
• Custom universes don't auto-discover. If you start with --universes foo,bar, you must use foo or bar (not default/blackhole) for every later dream status / dream inject / tau select cloud --universe call.

Related skills

• inspecting-dream-status — verify ports/URLs once Dream is up
• triggering-dream-builds — push GitHub state into the local cloud
• selecting-taubyte-context — point tau at the running universe