the lifecycle block declares named steps. each step has a command, an args array, and an optional useShell flag. commands are resolved at launch by rust.

commands and args support {{userOverrides.*}} templating, resolved from the config form the host rendered (see config-schema):

jsonc
"lifecycle": {
  "start": {
    "command": "{{userOverrides.java_path}}",
    "args": ["{{userOverrides.jvm_args}}", "-jar", "{{userOverrides.server_jar}}", "--nogui"]
  }
}

some plugins need different commands per runtime. runtime-qualified keys win when an override matches. the dotted form start.<runtime> overrides the base start:

jsonc
"lifecycle": {
  "start":       { "command": "node", "args": ["{{userOverrides.entry}}"] },
  "start.bun":   { "command": "bun",  "args": ["{{userOverrides.entry}}"] },
  "start.deno":  { "command": "deno", "args": ["run", "--allow-net", "{{userOverrides.entry}}"] },
  "start.rust":  { "command": "{{userOverrides.binary}}", "useShell": true }
}

the discord bot plugin uses exactly this pattern across its four runtimes (node, bun, deno, rust).

set useShell: true to run the command through a shell. needed for some installers (forge) that expect shell semantics.

stop triggers a graceful shutdown with a 15-second timeout before hard-kill. this is deliberately tuned so active work completes — pending operations drain before teardown.