Fleet Setup & Pairing (CLI)

This guide walks through setting up a CiderStack fleet using the command line. The CLI is ideal for automation, headless Macs, and server-style environments.

Requirements

• Apple Silicon Macs

• CiderStack CLI installed

• Network connectivity between nodes

• Pro or Team license

Default Fleet port:

9473/TCP

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Step 1: Start Fleet server on the worker

On the worker Mac:

cider fleet server start

This starts the Fleet RPC service.

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Step 2: Generate a pairing code

On the worker:

cider fleet server code

Example output:

Pairing code: 482193

Pairing codes expire automatically.

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Step 3: Pair from the manager

On the manager Mac:

cider fleet pair <worker-ip> <pairing-code>

Example:

cider fleet pair 192.168.1.50 482193

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Step 4: Verify nodes

cider fleet nodes

Example:

ID        NAME            ROLE     STATUS
node-1    mac-mini-01     worker   connected

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Creating a VM on a worker

cider fleet create vm myvm --node node-1

If no node is specified, CiderStack will auto-schedule.

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Starting and stopping remote VMs

cider fleet start myvm --node node-1
cider fleet stop myvm --node node-1

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Remote command execution

cider fleet exec myvm --node node-1 -c "whoami"

Commands are proxied securely through the worker.

No inbound VM networking is required.

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VM migration

cider fleet migrate myvm node-2

Migration transfers:

• Disk images

• Auxiliary files

• Snapshots

• Metadata

Progress is displayed live.

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Unpairing a node

cider fleet unpair <node-id>

This removes trust and disconnects the worker.

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Stopping Fleet server

cider fleet server stop

VMs continue running normally.

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Summary

Action	Command
Start server	cider fleet server start
Pair	cider fleet pair <ip> <code>
List nodes	cider fleet nodes
Create VM	cider fleet create vm
Migrate	cider fleet migrate
Exec	cider fleet exec

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What’s next

• Fleet Orchestration

• VM Migration

• CLI Reference

• CI/CD Runner Guide