Port already in use
The backend exits with EADDRINUSE, or the launcher reports a port it could not free.
On this page
Symptom
A start fails with an address-in-use error naming the manager port or the proxy port. Or a project refuses to start because one of its eleven ports is held.
Cause
A previous session crashed and left a process listening. The launcher frees PORT and PROXY_PORT automatically, but it does not free the front-door port or the pooler port. A project port can also be held by an unrelated process or by another project's leftover containers.
Fix
Identify the owner
List the listeners on the known ports with their owning process.
netstat -ano -p tcp | Select-String ":24084|:9000|:6000|:6432"Stop the owner
Stop the process you recognize. Do not kill an unrelated service to free a port.
Restart through the launcher
The launcher repeats its own orphan cleanup on the manager and proxy ports.
node scripts/start.mjsChange the port if the conflict is permanent
Move the manager, proxy or front-door port in the environment file or Admin Settings, then update clients.
Prevention
Stop the dev stack cleanly. On Windows, the kill-dev helper stops the expected development processes; on Linux and macOS, stop the process group you started.