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Headless environment

A headless environment is an environment that does not include support for a graphical user interface (GUI). An application deployed in this type of environment is typically managed via a command line interface (CLI) where administrators execute a variety of commands to manage the application and the services related to it via a terminal.

Most server environments run on a headless configuration, but this is still subject to the user’s preference. Headless systems are known for having the upper hand security-wise compared to traditional systems with GUIs and they are also known to work more efficiently because they have no display to process, thus being faster.

The embedded Martini Runtime of Martini Desktop is inherently running in headless mode; it lacks the Martini Runtime Admin UI1. Meanwhile, the Martini Runtime Edition offers a headless and non-headless version of Martini.

Headless versus non-headless?

The headless distribution of the Runtime Edition does not include the Martini Runtime Admin UI. Meanwhile, the non-headless version retains the presence of the Martini Runtime Admin UI.

The Online and Runtime Editions include the CLI tool. The CLI tool gives users the capability to configure Martini using the command line interface.

Desktop Edition

The Desktop Edition of Martini is intended for non-production environments only, as a 'playground' for users to explore the features of Martini, test their configurations, and develop applications.


  1. While it is possible to configure Martini via an IDE, support is partial and there are things you must still do via the Martini Runtime Admin UI or via the CLI tool, such as license management. After all, the IDE is a development environment for applications while the Martini Runtime Admin UI and CLI tool are for performing administrator functions.