---
name: "watchdogd"
section: "8"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["freebsd", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/watchdogd"
---

# watchdogd(8)

watchdog timer retrigger daemon

## NAME

**watchdogd** – watchdog timer retrigger daemon

## SYNOPSIS

**watchdogd** \[**-dnq**\] \[**-i** *interval*\] \[**-p** *period*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**watchdogd** is a daemon to activate and periodically retrigger the [watchdog(4)](/watchdog/4.md) timer device from userland. **watchdogd** is designed to work in high load environments, where other methods (such as a shell script invoking [sysctl(8)](/sysctl/8.md)) would involve too much overhead.

The basic premise is that after every *interval* seconds, **watchdogd** resets the hardware timer to *period*. See also [watchdog(4)](/watchdog/4.md) for more information on how watchdog timers work.

The options are as follows:

- **-d**

  Do not daemonize. If this option is specified, **watchdogd** will run in the foreground.

- **-i** *interval*

  Specify how often, in seconds, **watchdogd** should retrigger the hardware timer. If no interval is specified, the value of *period* (see below) divided by three is used.

- **-n**

  Do not restore the watchdog to its original values once it has been activated. With this set, the system will be rebooted by the watchdog even after a [halt(8)](/halt/8.md).

- **-p** *period*

  Set the hardware timer to expire in *period* seconds. The default is 30 seconds.

- **-q**

  Be quiet. With this option specified, **watchdogd** will not output a warning message if the underlying hardware adjusted the timeout period.

## SEE ALSO

[watchdog(4)](/watchdog/4.md), [sysctl(8)](/sysctl/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **watchdogd** program first appeared in OpenBSD 3.8.

## AUTHORS

**watchdogd** was written by Marc Balmer ⟨*mbalmer@openbsd.org*⟩.