Systemd manager tui

A TUI application for managing systemd services.

This tool allows you to manage systemd services with ease. You can view logs, list services, view properties, edit unit files, and control their lifecycle: start, stop, restart, mask, unmask, enable, and disable using the D-Bus API. It also supports Vim-like navigation. It is possible to navigate between system and user units and choose to list only running services or all units.

Quick Preview

View screenshots

Usage

systemd-manager-tui

# With a filter
systemd-manager-tui -f docker

# Without watching system and user units for failure notifications
systemd-manager-tui -n
# or: systemd-manager-tui --no-notifications

# With a configuration file from somewhere else
systemd-manager-tui --config ./keys.toml

Configuration

Every keybind can be remapped in ~/.config/systemd-manager-tui/config.toml (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/systemd-manager-tui/config.toml). The file is optional: without it, the defaults below apply. --config <PATH> reads another file instead.

To start from a complete, commented file with every action at its default key:

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd-manager-tui
systemd-manager-tui --print-default-config > ~/.config/systemd-manager-tui/config.toml

A binding is a single key or a list of keys, and anything you leave out keeps its default:

# Applies in every view
[keybindings]
quit = "ctrl+q"
move_down = ["down", "n"]

# The service list
[keybindings.list]
start = "S"
stop = "K"
restart = "ctrl+r"

# The log view
[keybindings.log]
back = ["b", "esc"]

# The unit-file view
[keybindings.unit_file]
edit = "E"

Key names are single characters ("s", "?", "/", "+"), named keys (up, down, left, right, pageup, pagedown, home, end, insert, delete, backspace, enter, tab, backtab, esc, space, f1-f12) and modifiers joined with + (ctrl, alt, shift, super), as in "ctrl+c" or "alt+f".

How overrides are applied:

• Rebinding an action replaces the character keys it had, so start = "S" frees up s for another action.
• Named keys stay bound unless you take them away, so move_down = "n" adds n and keeps ↓.
• Binding a named key explicitly somewhere else takes it from its default action, so page_down = "down" moves the down arrow.
• unbind = ["key", ...] in a section drops keys entirely, and action = [] leaves an action with no key at all.
• Binding one key to two actions in the same view, or taking over a key that another action still relies on, is reported at startup and the program exits without starting.
• A global action bound to a plain character (quit = "Q") is suppressed while the filter input or the instance-name prompt has focus, so the character can still be typed. Chords such as ctrl+c always apply.

The same key can mean different things in different views, which is why a cycles the list filter but toggles auto-refresh in the log view. The shortcut bar and the ? help popup are generated from the active configuration, so they always show your own keys.

Actions

Section	Action	Default	Description
[keybindings]	quit	ctrl+c	Quit
	suspend	ctrl+z	Suspend to the shell
	move_up / move_down	up/k, down/j	Move the selection, scroll the log and unit-file views
	page_up / page_down	pageup, pagedown	Jump 10 items
	nav_left / nav_right	left/h, right/l	Switch system/user tab; switch between the log and unit-file views
[keybindings.list]	start	s	Start the selected unit
	stop	x	Stop the selected unit
	restart	r	Restart the selected unit
	enable	e	Enable the selected unit
	disable	d	Disable the selected unit
	toggle_mask	m	Mask/unmask the selected unit or template
	refresh	u	Refresh the service list
	list_all_units	f	Toggle all units/services only
	cycle_state_filter	a	Cycle all → active → inactive → failed
	view_log	v	Open the log view
	view_unit_file	c	Open the unit-file view
	focus_filter	i, /	Start filtering
	clear_filter	esc	Clear the filter
	help	?	Toggle the help popup
[keybindings.log]	toggle_auto_refresh	a	Toggle log auto-refresh
	back	q, esc	Return to the list
[keybindings.unit_file]	edit	e	Edit the unit file
	back	q, esc	Return to the list

Text editing inside the filter input (ctrl+a, ctrl+e, ctrl+k, ctrl+u, ctrl+w, alt+b, alt+f, …) and the instance-name prompt are fixed and not configurable.

Install

After installation, you can create an alias to make it easier to use.

Ubuntu (recommended)

sudo dpkg -i ./systemd-manager-tui_x.x.x-x_amd64.deb 

Download the .deb file from Releases

Fedora (recommended)

sudo dnf install ./systemd-manager-tui_x.x.x-x_x86_64.rpm

Download the .rpm file from Releases

Arch linux

yay -S systemd-manager-tui

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/systemd-manager-tui

NixOS

nix run github:matheus-git/systemd-manager-tui

NixOS with flakes Read here

Binary

chmod +x systemd-manager-tui
./systemd-manager-tui

Download binary from Releases

Cargo

cargo install --locked systemd-manager-tui

Main libraries

• ratatui - 0.29.0
• zbus - 5.5.0

Testing

Run the regular test suite with:

cargo test

The regular suite includes unit, application-flow, and Ratatui rendering tests using TestBackend, so it does not require an interactive terminal or a running systemd instance.

Real integration tests against the system and user D-Bus buses are available as an opt-in suite. Run them on a systemd-based Linux host where the current user has an active user manager and both systemctl and systemd-run are available:

cargo test infrastructure::systemd_service_adapter::tests -- --ignored --test-threads=1

The integration suite reads real system units and creates an isolated transient user service to exercise lifecycle operations. The temporary service is stopped and cleaned up automatically. These tests are ignored during a regular cargo test so environments without systemd, such as many CI containers, continue to work.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request for any improvements or bug fixes.

📝 License

This project is open-source under the MIT License.