Start request repeated too quickly 🐧 Linux

systemd: Start request repeated too quickly / service hit its start limit

The service crashed and restarted several times in a short period, so systemd stopped trying (StartLimitBurst).

Seen on: Linux

Meaning

This is a symptom: the service exits quickly on every start. systemd refuses further restarts until the limit resets or you reset-failed. The actual crash reason is earlier in the journal.

Common causes

  • Service crashes immediately (config error, missing file, port in use)
  • Restart=always with a short-lived command
  • Wrong user/permissions in the unit

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Look at the first failure: journalctl -u <svc> -b --no-pager | head -80
  2. Fix the cause, then systemctl reset-failed <svc> && systemctl start <svc>
  3. Tune StartLimitIntervalSec/RestartSec if restarts are legitimate

Detailed fix by platform

Linux

  1. bash
    sudo journalctl -u myapp -b --no-pager | grep -iE 'error|fail' | head
sudo systemctl reset-failed myapp
sudo systemctl start myapp

How to diagnose

  1. Root cause — First error lines in the journal
  2. Unit — ExecStart, User, WorkingDirectory

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