The system card: exp:expfetch, exp:info and exp:about #

This page is for administrators, hosting staff and developers who want to see at a glance what an Exponential installation is and how it is doing, and for anyone who has to paste that into a support request or show it in a demo. It covers the three commands, every option, the output formats, the hints, the settings and how an extension adds its own facts. Added 2026-10-20 in 6.0.15.

Contents #

1. In short
2. exp:expfetch: the card
3. exp:info: the card and an inventory
4. exp:about: the card and the project
5. Options
6. Output formats
7. Layout, colors and themes
8. Health hints
9. Providers, time budgets and isolation
10. No secrets, ever
11. Settings: syscard.ini
12. Adding facts, a theme or a logo from an extension
13. How the aliases work
14. Shell completion
15. Why the internals are called "system card"
16. Related pages

In short #

All three are read-only. They print to the terminal in color only when the output is a terminal, never with NO_COLOR set, and never print a password, key, token or full database address. As root, add --allow-root-user, like every console command.

exp:expfetch: the card #

What it shows. The Exponential "e" in orange block art, and next to it the facts, grouped in sections:

• Exponential: the version, its state and line; for a git checkout the branch and the commit.
• System: the operating system, the kernel, the host name, the uptime, the load, the CPU (model and cores), the memory, the disk of the installation, the shell and the terminal.
• PHP: the version and SAPI, OPcache (with its memory), the JIT, the extensions that matter to Exponential and memory_limit.
• Engine: Exponential Velocity (version, running or stopped, live and configured workers, ports and TLS, the number of variables in its envvars file, demo mode from the installation's site envvars) and the other web servers on the machine (Apache, nginx, Caddy, FrankenPHP, PHP-FPM masters and pool workers).
• Database: its type, the server's version and the host (only host and port).
• Site: the siteaccesses and the default one, the active extensions, demo mode, debug output, the mail transport (its type only), the caches, the help (pages, languages, whether its index is current), the last cronjob run and Composer.
• Hints: one line for each fact that needs attention (Health hints).
• Color bars: the terminal's 16 colors and a bar of the theme's gradient.

When to use it. The first thing after you log in to a server, after an install or an upgrade, before and after a deploy, and in a demo.

./console exp:expfetch
./console exp:expfetch --plain
./console exp:expfetch --section=php,engine

Sample output (--plain, values of an example machine):

Exponential 6.0.15 @ web.example.org
====================================

[Exponential]
Version: Exponential 6.0.15 (stable, 6.0 line)
Git: main @ 9b945ab6bd

[System]
OS: AlmaLinux 9.8 (Olive Jaguar)
Kernel: Linux 5.14.0-687.29.1.el9_8.x86_64 x86_64
Host: web.example.org
Uptime: 12d 4h
Load: 1.52 1.31 1.20
CPU: AMD EPYC (12 cores)
Memory: 25.9 GiB / 46.8 GiB (55%)
Disk: 1.4 TiB / 2.0 TiB (72%)
Shell: bash
Terminal: xterm-256color (120x40)

[PHP]
PHP: 8.5.11 (cli)
OPcache: on, also for the CLI, 256 MiB
JIT: off
Extensions: intl mbstring curl gd xsl sodium apcu mysqli pdo_mysql sqlite3 pdo_sqlite imagick pcntl posix zip
memory_limit: 512M

[Engine]
Velocity: v0.0.4.54, running, up 3h 12m
Workers: 52 live / 48 configured
Ports: 8088 (HTTP), 8080 (HTTPS, TLS)
Envvars: 6 variables
Demo mode: off (Velocity)
Apache: running (13 processes)
PHP-FPM: 1 master (8.5), 16 pool workers

[Database]
Database: MySQL/MariaDB 10.11.14-MariaDB
Host: localhost

[Site]
Siteaccesses: 4, default site
Extensions: 38 active
Demo mode: off
Debug: off
Mail: sendmail
Caches: view, templates on; static off
Help: 7,083 pages, eng-us ger-de
Cronjobs: last run 4 min ago, 14 parts
Composer: 105 packages, all consistent

The live workers count every process below the Velocity server (workers and their helpers), so it can be a few more than the configured number.

exp:info: the card and an inventory #

What it shows. Everything exp:expfetch shows, with a little more detail in some facts (PHP's support date, the number of loaded PHP extensions, every local disk, the names of the Velocity envvars, the instances and worker model, the FPM pool names, the database charset and read replica), plus these sections:

When to use it. For a support request, an audit, the handover of a site, or to compare two servers (the --json output diffs well).

./console exp:info
./console exp:info --json --no-logo > info.json
./console exp:info --section=extensions,settings --plain

Sample of the sections it adds (--plain):

[Caches]
Cache size: 1.2 GiB in 48,210 files
content: 812 MiB
template-block: 201 MiB
exphelp: 96 MiB
ini: 1.4 MiB

[Help]
Help eng-us: 7,083 / 7,083 pages (100%)
Help ger-de: 785 / 7,083 pages (11%)

[Cronjobs]
default: unpublish, rssimport, indexcontent, hide, internal_drafts_cleanup
frequent: notification, workflow, contentjobs, audit, mailbounces
infrequent: basket_cleanup, linkcheck, mailpreferences

[Extensions]
ezjscore: 1.4.0
ezoe: 6.0.15
explayouts: 1.2.3

[Siteaccesses]
URL mode: uri, host, port
site: design site, eng-US, www.example.org
admin: design admin4, eng-US, www.example.org/admin

[Settings]
SiteSettings/SiteName: Example site
ContentSettings/ViewCaching: enabled
MailSettings/Transport: sendmail
ServerSettings/Workers: 48

[Queue]
Service: exp-queue.service, installed
Workers: 2 alive

exp:about: the card and the project #

What it shows. Everything exp:expfetch shows, then the project: what Exponential is, the Exponential Foundation, 7x, Exponential Velocity as part of 6.0.15, the license (code GPL 2.0 or later, documentation GFDL 1.3 or later), links (website, documentation, GitHub, Packagist, issues, forums), how to contribute (CONTRIBUTING.md and the CLA), the "Become an Exponential Partner" call to action and the credits. The text is share/syscard/about.txt, written from the documentation (each block names its source); no statement is made up for the card.

When to use it. In a demo, a talk or a screenshot, or when someone opens a terminal on a server and asks what runs there.

./console exp:about
./console exp:about --section=about,links --plain

Sample of the project sections (--plain):

[About]
What Exponential is:
Exponential is a professional PHP application framework with advanced CMS
(content management system) functionality. As a CMS its most notable feature is
its fully customizable and extendable content model. ...

[Project]
Code: GNU General Public License v2.0 (or any later version)
Documentation: GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 (or any later version)
Copyright: Exponential Copyright © 1998-2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x; originally Copyright (C) 1999 - 2014 eZ Systems AS

[Links]
Website: https://exponential.earth
Documentation: https://exponential.doc.exponential.earth/Exponential
GitHub: https://github.com/se7enxweb/exponential
Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/se7enxweb/exponential
Issues: https://issues.exponential.earth
Forums: https://share.exponential.earth/forums

[Contribute]
...
Become an Exponential Partner:
Join the network of official partners: companies that build, host or sell around
Exponential and support the project in return. Apply at
https://exponential.earth/partner/apply

Options #

The same options work for all three commands.

The standard options of every console command work too (--siteaccess, --quiet, --allow-root-user ...). The exit code is 0, or 2 for a wrong option. Generated reference: exp:expfetch.

--watch #

--watch clears the screen and draws the card again every N seconds. Only the providers that change from second to second run again (the machine: load, memory, disk; Velocity: its workers); the others keep their first facts, so a refresh costs almost nothing. The footer shows the interval and the time. Ctrl-C (or SIGTERM) stops it and shows the cursor again. When the output is not a terminal, each refresh is printed under the previous one instead.

Output formats #

Text (the default) draws the logo and the facts side by side. Plain (--plain) is meant for pasting into an issue, a mail or a log. JSON (--json) is meant for programs, monitoring and diffs:

{
    "card": "info",
    "generated": "2026-10-20T08:00:00+00:00",
    "title": "Exponential 6.0.15",
    "host": "web.example.org",
    "sections": {
        "php": [
            { "key": "php.version", "label": "PHP", "value": "8.5.11 (cli)", "severity": "ok", "kind": "row" },
            { "key": "php.opcache", "label": "OPcache", "value": "off", "severity": "warn", "kind": "row",
              "hint": "OPcache is off (opcache.enable=0): every request compiles the PHP code again. Turn it on in php.ini." }
        ]
    },
    "hints": [
        { "key": "php.opcache", "severity": "warn", "hint": "OPcache is off (opcache.enable=0): ..." }
    ],
    "providers": [
        { "id": "php", "class": "expSysCardPhpProvider", "status": "ok", "seconds": 0.004, "priority": 80, "budget": 0.5 }
    ]
}

• card is card, info or about; generated is ISO 8601; host is the host name.
• sections maps a section id to its facts in order. A fact has a stable key (<provider>.<name>), a label, a value (always a string), a severity (ok, info, warn, error), a kind (row, or text for a paragraph of exp:about) and, when it needs attention, a hint.
• hints lists the hints, worst first.
• providers says how each provider ran: status is ok, slow (it took longer than its budget, without isolation), timeout, error or skipped (the total budget was spent).

A monitoring check can read one value, for example jq -r '.sections.php[] | select(.key=="php.opcache") | .severity', or count the errors: jq '[.hints[] | select(.severity=="error")] | length'.

Layout, colors and themes #

Layout by width #

The card follows the width of the terminal: the logo and a gap of three columns next to at least 36 columns of facts.

Values that do not fit are cut with an ellipsis; the paragraphs of exp:about are wrapped. With a UTF-8 locale (LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG) the logo is block art and the marks are dots and signs; otherwise, or with --ascii, the ASCII drawings and + - ! x are used.

At 120 columns, without colors (the first lines):

      ▄▄██████▄▄                              Exponential 6.0.15 @ web.example.org
   ▄███▀▀    ▀▀███▄                           ────────────────────────────────────
  ███            ███
 ███▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄███                         Exponential
 ███▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀                         · Version      Exponential 6.0.15 (stable, 6.0 line)
 ███                                          · Git          main @ 9b945ab6bd
  ███▄           ▄▄▄
   ▀███▄▄    ▄▄███▀                           System
      ▀▀██████▀▀                              · OS           AlmaLinux 9.8 (Olive Jaguar)
                                              · Kernel       Linux 5.14.0-687.29.1.el9_8.x86_64 x86_64
█▀▀ ▀▄▀ █▀█ █▀█ █▄ █ █▀▀ █▄ █ ▀█▀ █ ▄▀█ █     · Host         web.example.org
██▄ █ █ █▀▀ █▄█ █ ▀█ ██▄ █ ▀█  █  █ █▀█ █▄▄   · Uptime       12d 4h
                                              · Load         1.52 1.31 1.20

                                              PHP
                                              ● PHP          8.5.11 (cli)
                                              ▲ OPcache      off

The marks: ● ok (green), · info (dim), ▲ warn (yellow), ✖ error (red, bold).

Color depth #

--color= forces a depth (for a screenshot or a terminal that does not say what it can), except that NO_COLOR always wins. Other codes: ESC[1m bold (labels, headings, the logo), ESC[2m dim (when a theme has no Dim color), ESC[0m reset after each colored piece. The palette rows are background colors ESC[40m-ESC[47m and ESC[100m-ESC[107m, so they show the terminal's own palette. --watch clears with ESC[H ESC[2J, hides the cursor with ESC[?25l and shows it again with ESC[?25h; --animate draws the logo line by line, moves back up with ESC[nA and clears each line with ESC[K.

Themes #

A theme is a block [Theme-<name>] in syscard.ini with a #RRGGBB color per role (Logo, LogoShade, Accent, Label, Value, Dim, Ok, Info, Warn, Error), Gradient[] stops, GradientDirection=columns|lines and Bold. An empty color is the terminal's own. <Role>16= names the basic color for a 16-color terminal (yellow, bright-yellow ...), so the orange "e" turns yellow there and not red. The "e" is shaded from Logo at the top to LogoShade at the bottom.

Health hints #

A fact that needs attention is marked and adds a line to the Hints block (and to hints in the JSON):

The PHP support dates are syscard.ini [Php] SecuritySupportEnds[] (from php.net). The Composer count uses the ezupdate extension's inventory, which reads only local files; it is kept for [Updates] CacheTime seconds, and only when the command runs as the owner of the cache directory (a file written by root there would block the web server's user from clearing the caches).

The facts are those of the command-line PHP and of the machine. The web server's PHP (PHP-FPM, Velocity) can have its own php.ini: Setup > System information shows that one, and ./console exp:system:info has the full health checks.

Providers, time budgets and isolation #

The facts come from providers, one class per group of facts, listed in syscard.ini [Providers] ProviderClasses[] in the order their facts are shown:

Each provider has a priority (the higher, the earlier it runs) and a budget (seconds). All of them together get [Runtime] TotalBudget seconds; when that is spent, the providers left show n/a (time), which is why the priority matters. With [Runtime] Isolation=enabled (and the pcntl and posix extensions) each provider runs in a child process that is killed when its budget is spent: a database that does not answer or a stalled disk shows n/a (timeout) and never hangs the card. The child ends with SIGKILL, so it never closes a connection or removes a file that belongs to the command. Without isolation, providers keep their budget themselves (a program they run and a directory they walk stop at the deadline), and one that went over is reported as slow in the JSON.

./console exp:expfetch --list-providers shows the list, the cards, the priorities, the budgets and whether each is on. Nothing runs a shell: programs are started without one, and nothing is asked over the network.

No secrets, ever #

The card is meant to be pasted into public places, so it is safe by construction:

• Providers show only what they need: the database's type, version and host (never the user, password, database name or a full DSN); the mail transport's type (never its server or login); the names of the Velocity envvars (never their values); the host of a SiteURL (never credentials in it).
• exp:info shows only the settings of [Inventory] Settings[], and never one whose name looks like a secret (password, key, token, secret, salt, user, login, auth, session, dsn ...), even when the list names it.
• Every fact passes expSysCardRegistry::safe() before it is shown, whatever a provider (also an extension's) returns: a fact whose name matches expSysCardRegistry::SECRET_NAME (password, secret, token, api key, private key, credential, salt, cookie, session id, dsn ...) is dropped, and mask() replaces the password of scheme://user:password@host, the value of password=..., token: ..., api_key=... and a Bearer/Basic credential with ***, then applies the masking of the system report (long key-like strings).
• The installation path is not printed (the disk of the installation is labeled "Disk").

Settings: syscard.ini #

Every setting: syscard.ini.

Adding facts, a theme or a logo from an extension #

An extension adds to the card with its own settings/syscard.ini.append.php; nothing in the kernel changes.

A provider #

A provider implements expSysCardProvider (id(), modes(), priority(), budget(), watched(), collect( expSysCardContext $context )); most extend expSysCardBaseProvider, which has defaults and helpers (fact(), text(), size(), bytes(), duration(), ago()). Read everything through the context ($context->ini(), ->file(), ->env(), ->glob(), ->command(), ->get( $key, $closure )), so a test can give the provider made-up values with expSysCardContext::fake(). A full example:

<?php
// extension/myshop/classes/myshopsyscardprovider.php

/**
 * The shop on the system card: the open orders, and a hint when the payment gateway is in test mode.
 */
class myShopSysCardProvider extends expSysCardBaseProvider
{
    protected $id = 'myshop';          // Enabled[myshop], Priority[myshop], Budget[myshop]
    protected $section = 'shop';       // a section of its own (or 'site')
    protected $modes = array( expSysCardContext::MODE_CARD );   // MODE_INFO: only on exp:info
    protected $priority = 30;
    protected $budget = 1.0;

    public function collect( expSysCardContext $context )
    {
        $facts = array();
        $open = $context->get( 'myshop.open_orders', function () {
            $rows = eZDB::instance()->arrayQuery( 'SELECT COUNT(*) AS n FROM myshop_order WHERE status = 1' );
            return isset( $rows[0]['n'] ) ? (int)$rows[0]['n'] : null;
        } );
        $facts[] = $this->fact( 'orders', 'Open orders', $open === null ? 'n/a' : $open );

        $test = $context->iniEnabled( 'myshop.ini', 'Gateway', 'TestMode', 'disabled' );
        $facts[] = $this->fact( 'gateway', 'Payments', $test ? 'test mode' : 'live',
                                $test ? expSysCardFact::WARN : expSysCardFact::OK,
                                $test ? 'The payment gateway is in test mode (myshop.ini [Gateway] TestMode): no payment is taken.' : '' );
        return $facts;
    }
}

# extension/myshop/settings/syscard.ini.append.php
[Providers]
ProviderClasses[]=myShopSysCardProvider

[Sections]
Titles[shop]=Shop

Regenerate the autoloads (php bin/php/ezpgenerateautoloads.php -e), then check it with ./console exp:expfetch --list-providers and ./console exp:expfetch --section=shop. A test with a fake context:

$context = expSysCardContext::fake( array(
    'myshop.open_orders' => 7,
    'ini' => array( 'myshop.ini' => array( 'Gateway' => array( 'TestMode' => 'enabled' ) ) ),
) );
$facts = ( new myShopSysCardProvider() )->collect( $context );

Never return a secret: the registry drops and masks what it recognizes, but a provider should not ask for one.

A theme #

# extension/myshop/settings/syscard.ini.append.php
[Theme]
Themes[]=myshop

[Theme-myshop]
Logo=#2563EB
LogoShade=#1E3A8A
Logo16=bright-blue
Accent=#2563EB
Label=#60A5FA
Dim=#8A8A8A
Gradient[]
Gradient[]=#60A5FA
Gradient[]=#2563EB
GradientDirection=lines

./console exp:expfetch --theme=myshop, or [Theme] Default=myshop to make it the default.

A logo #

Put the drawings in extension/<ext>/share/syscard/logos/: <name>-big.txt, <name>-small.txt, <name>-mini.txt (Unicode) and the same with .ascii.txt, plus wordmark.txt and wordmark.ascii.txt if you replace the wordmark.

[Logo]
Logo=myshop
Directories[]=extension/myshop/share/syscard/logos

The last directory listed is looked in first, and a drawing not found there is taken from the next, so a logo of the same name ("e") replaces the kernel's.

How the aliases work #

exp:info and exp:about are aliases of exp:expfetch, declared with @alias in bin/php/expfetch.php. The console (bin/php/console) passes the name it was called by to the command in the environment variable EXP_CONSOLE_COMMAND, and the command chooses the card from it. Run directly with PHP, the command has no alias to read: use --mode.

php bin/php/expfetch.php --mode=info --allow-root-user

Shell completion #

./console exp:expfetch --completion=bash >> ~/.bashrc     # or: eval "$(./console exp:expfetch --completion=bash)"
./console exp:expfetch --completion=zsh  >> ~/.zshrc

It completes the three commands after ./console, their options, and the values of --theme=, --color=, --mode=, --section= and --completion=.

Why the internals are called "system card" #

Only the command name says "fetch", after the tools it is modeled on. Everything inside is the system card (expSysCard*, kernel/classes/syscard/, syscard.ini, share/syscard/), because "fetch" already means something in Exponential: the template fetch() functions, the fetch definitions of modules, function collections and the fetch*() methods of persistent objects. A test keeps the new code free of the word outside the command name.

Related pages #

• exp:expfetch (generated reference)
• syscard.ini (generated reference)
• Health checks and uptime
• System information
• The help system
• 6.0.15 changelog
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.