---
title: Service management | Tiger Data Docs
description: Fork, pause, delete, and reset passwords for services from the Operations dashboard
---

In the `Service management` section of the `Operations` dashboard, you can fork your service, reset the password, pause, or delete the service.

## Fork a service

When you a fork a service, you create its exact copy including the underlying database. This allows you to create a copy that you can use for testing purposes, or to prepare for a major version upgrade. The only difference between the original and the forked service is that the `tsdbadmin` user has a different password.

The fork is created by restoring from backup and applying the write-ahead log. The data is fetched from Amazon S3, so forking doesn’t tax the running instance.

You can fork services that have a status of `Running` or `Paused`. You cannot fork services while they have a status of `In progress`. Wait for the service to complete the transition before you start forking.

Warning

Forks only have data up to the point when the original service was forked. Any data written to the original service after the time of forking does not appear in the fork. If you want the fork to assume operations from the original service, pause your main service before forking to avoid any data discrepancy between services.

1. **In Tiger Console, ensure the service has a status of `Running` or `Paused`, then click its name**

2. **Navigate to the `Operations` tab**

3. **In the `Service management` section, click `Fork service`**

   In the dialog, confirm by clicking `Fork service`. The forked service takes a few minutes to start.

4. **To change the configuration of your fork, click `Advanced options`**

   You can set different compute and storage options, separate from your original service.

5. **Confirm by clicking `Fork service`**

   The forked service takes a few minutes to start. It shows in the `Services` dashboard with a label stating which service it has been forked from.

   ![Fork a Tiger Cloud service](/docs/_astro/tsc-forked-service.Dpf11G2D_ZVpdFV.webp)

## Create a service fork using the CLI

To manage development forks:

1. **Install Tiger CLI**

   Use the terminal to install the CLI:

   - [Debian](#tab-panel-517)
   - [Ubuntu](#tab-panel-518)
   - [Red Hat](#tab-panel-519)
   - [Fedora](#tab-panel-520)
   - [MacOS](#tab-panel-521)
   - [Windows PowerShell](#tab-panel-522)
   - [x-platform](#tab-panel-523)

   Terminal window

   ```
   curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.deb.sh | sudo os=any dist=any bash
   sudo apt-get install tiger-cli
   ```

   Terminal window

   ```
   curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.deb.sh | sudo os=any dist=any bash
   sudo apt-get install tiger-cli
   ```

   Terminal window

   ```
   curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.rpm.sh | sudo os=rpm_any dist=rpm_any bash
   sudo yum install tiger-cli
   ```

   Terminal window

   ```
   curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/timescale/tiger-cli/script.rpm.sh | sudo os=rpm_any dist=rpm_any bash
   sudo yum install tiger-cli
   ```

   Terminal window

   ```
   brew install --cask timescale/tap/tiger-cli
   ```

   Terminal window

   ```
   irm https://cli.tigerdata.com/install.ps1 | iex
   ```

   Terminal window

   ```
   curl -fsSL https://cli.tigerdata.com | sh
   ```

2. **Set up API credentials**

   1. Log Tiger CLI into your Tiger Cloud account:
      ```
      tiger auth login
      ```
      Tiger CLI opens Console in your browser. Log in, then click `Authorize`. You can have a maximum of 10 active client credentials. If you get an error, open [credentials](https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/dashboard/settings) and delete an unused credential.
   2. Select a Tiger Cloud project:
      ```
      Auth URL is: https://console.cloud.tigerdata.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=lotsOfURLstuff
      Opening browser for authentication...
      Select a project:

      > 1. Tiger Project (tgrproject)
      2. YourCompany (Company wide project) (cpnproject)
      3. YourCompany Department (dptproject)

      Use ↑/↓ arrows or number keys to navigate, enter to select, q to quit
      ```
      If only one project is associated with your account, this step is not shown. Where possible, Tiger CLI stores your authentication information in the system keychain/credential manager. If that fails, the credentials are stored in `~/.config/tiger/credentials` with restricted file permissions (600). By default, Tiger CLI stores your configuration in `~/.config/tiger/config.yaml`.

3. **Test your authenticated connection to Tiger Cloud by listing services**

   Terminal window

   ```
   tiger service list
   ```

   This call returns something like:

   - No services:

     ```
     🏜️  No services found! Your project is looking a bit empty.
     🚀 Ready to get started? Create your first service with: tiger service create
     ```

   - One or more services:

     ```
     ┌────────────┬─────────────────────┬────────┬─────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────────┐
     │ SERVICE ID │        NAME         │ STATUS │    TYPE     │    REGION    │     CREATED      │
     ├────────────┼─────────────────────┼────────┼─────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────────┤
     │ tgrservice │ tiger-agent-service │ READY  │ TIMESCALEDB │ eu-central-1 │ 2025-09-25 16:09 │
     └────────────┴─────────────────────┴────────┴─────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────────┘
     ```

4. **Fork the service**

   Terminal window

   ```
    tiger service fork tgrservice --now --no-wait --name bob
   ```

   You must specify exactly one timing option: `--now` (fork at current state), `--last-snapshot` (fork at last snapshot, faster), or `--to-timestamp` (fork at specific point in time). By default a fork matches the resources of the parent Tiger Cloud service. For paid plans, specify `--cpu` and/or `--memory` for dedicated resources.

   You see something like:

   ```
   🍴 Forking service 'tgrservice' to create 'bob' at current state...
   ✅ Fork request accepted!
   📋 New Service ID: <service_id>
   🔐 Password saved to system keyring for automatic authentication
   🎯 Set service '<service_id>' as default service.
   ⏳ Service is being forked. Use 'tiger service list' to check status.
   ┌───────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │     PROPERTY      │                                              VALUE                                               │
   ├───────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
   │ Service ID        │ <service_id>                                                                                       │
   │ Name              │ bob                                                                                              │
   │ Status            │                                                                                                  │
   │ Type              │ TIMESCALEDB                                                                                      │
   │ Region            │ eu-central-1                                                                                     │
   │ CPU               │ 0.5 cores (500m)                                                                                 │
   │ Memory            │ 2 GB                                                                                             │
   │ Direct Endpoint   │ <service-id>.<project-id>.tsdb.cloud.timescale.com:<port>                                             │
   │ Created           │ 2025-10-08 13:58:07 UTC                                                                          │
   │ Connection String │ postgresql://tsdbadmin@<service-id>.<project-id>.tsdb.cloud.timescale.com:<port>/tsdb?sslmode=require │
   └───────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   ```

5. **When you are done, delete your forked service**

   1. Use the CLI to request service delete:
      ```
      tiger service delete <service_id>
      ```

   2. Validate the service delete:

      ```
      Are you sure you want to delete service ‘<service_id>’? This operation cannot be undone.
      Type the service ID ‘<service_id>’ to confirm:
      <service_id>
      ```

      You see something like:

      ```
      🗑️  Delete request accepted for service ‘<service_id>’.
      ✅ Service ‘<service_id>’ has been successfully deleted.
      ```

## Reset your service password

You can reset your service password from the `Operations` dashboard. This is the password you use to connect to your service, not the password for Tiger Console. To reset your Console password, navigate to the `Account` page.

When you reset your service password, you are prompted for your Console password. When you have authenticated, you can create a new service password, ask Console to auto-generate a password, or switch your authentication type between SCRAM and MD5.

SCRAM (salted challenge response authentication mechanism) and MD5 (message digest algorithm 5) are cryptographic authentication mechanisms. Tiger Console uses SCRAM by default. It is more secure and strongly recommended. The MD5 option is provided for compatibility with older clients.

## Change the service environment

In Tiger Cloud, you create services for the following environments:

- Development services: for less demanding tasks, such as ad hoc analytics, testing, or application building. Development services have no delete protection.
- Production services: for mission-critical applications like client-facing dashboards or APIs. Production services have delete protection.

Tiger Cloud applies upgrades differently to development and production services.

To change the environment of an existing service:

1. **In Tiger Console, select the service to update**
2. **Click `Operations` > `Environment`, then change the tag under `Change service environment`**

## Convert a free service to a standard one

You can convert a free service to a standard one, to increase its resources. Note that it is only available if you haven’t reached the quota on the number of standard services according to your pricing plan.

1. **In Tiger Console, select the service to update**
2. **Click `Operations` > `Environment` > `Convert service to standard` > `Yes, convert to standard`**

## Pause a service

You can pause a service if you want to stop it running temporarily. When you pause a service, you are no longer billed for compute resources. However, you do need to continue paying for any storage you are using. Pausing a service ensures that it is still available, and is ready to be restarted at any time.

## Delete a service

You can delete a service to remove it completely. This removes the service and its underlying data from the server. You cannot recover a deleted service.