service

Manages a system service’s running state and, optionally, its boot-enablement. Running and enabled-at-boot are orthogonal axes. Idempotent: re-applying an unchanged declaration reports no change.

Category: System & core

States

State	Meaning
`running`	The service is active (started if it was stopped).
`stopped`	The service is inactive (stopped if it was running).

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`enable`	bool		Boot-enablement: `true` enables the unit at boot, `false` disables it. Omit to leave the boot-state untouched.

Examples

Run and enable a service at boot

service:
  nginx:
    state: running
    enable: true

Install the package, then ensure its service runs

The require requisite orders the service after the package that provides the unit.

service:
  nginx:
    state: running
    enable: true
    require:
      - package: nginx

Stop and disable a service

service:
  telnet:
    state: stopped
    enable: false

Notes

Linux only; no init system on other operating systems is supported.
systemd and OpenRC backends are stable (verified on the live distro matrix); the sysvinit backend is experimental (implemented and fixture-tested, but no sysvinit-default distro is in the live matrix).
The unit must already exist on the host — install the providing package first, typically via a require: [package: <name>] relationship.
Out of scope for v0.1: separate mask/unmask, reload, restart-on-change, and unit listing/inspection.

package system