# Local agent

> The background process that owns local routing, TLS termination, and the route registry.

The local agent receives HTTPS requests for your `*.localhost` routes and forwards them to local app ports.

You usually do not run it directly. `routeup setup` starts it, and bare
`routeup`, `routeup serve`, and `routeup expose` start it on demand when needed.

## What it does

- Terminates local HTTPS using certificates signed by the routeup local CA.
- Keeps the active route registry.
- Reverse-proxies requests by `Host` header to the configured local port.
- Owns public tunnel clients started by `routeup serve --expose` and standalone
  `routeup expose`.

The agent keeps route and tunnel state in memory. Live foreground and detached
CLI owners reconcile their exact desired state after an agent restart. Request
logs and captures are not restored because their bounded ring belongs to the
agent process.

## Debug commands

```bash
routeup agent status
routeup agent start
routeup agent stop
routeup agent restart
```

These are mainly useful after an upgrade or while debugging setup issues.