isd— A Better Way to Work withsystemdUnits
Simplify systemd management with isd!
isd is a TUI offering fuzzy search for units, auto-refreshing previews,
smart sudo handling, and a fully customizeable interface
for power-users and newcomers alike.
Short Motivation¶
If you ever became frustrated while typing:
systemctl start --user unit-A.service(manually starting a unit ⬆️)systemctl status --user unit-A.service(seeing that it failed ❌)journalctl -xe --user -u unit-A.service(checking the logs 🔬)systemctl edit --user unit-A.service(updating the unit 🧑🔬)systemctl start --user unit-A.service(starting it again ⬆️)systemctl status --user unit-A.service(checking the logs again 🔬)- And repeat 🔁
This tool is for you!
But isd is not only designed for systemd power-users!
isd lowers the bar to interact with systemd units and provides a unified
interface that only shows relevant information and commands.
If you only ever run systemctl status , then isd is might still be for you,
since isd will auto-refresh the output.
If you are interested, read on and take a look at the recorded terminal session.
Installation¶
isd can currently be installed in three different ways:
An AppImage is a single self-containing executable, similar to a Windows
.exe and MacOS .dmg file. This should make it easy to run isd
on any Linux distribution and on remote servers where you do
not have elevated privileges.
Manual installation:
First, download the .AppImage file from:
Then make the file executable as
mentioned in the AppImage documentation
and run the application.
Managed installation:
Or manage the .AppImage via AppImageLauncher
for better desktop integration support (application icon & entry) and in-app
update functionality.
Warning
If you have nix installed, this AppImage will not work!
Either use the nix or uv installation instructions!
isd is developed with a reproducible nix environment and build as a nix package.
This is my personal preference to install isd but it is a higher barrier compared to the .AppImage.
To install nix with sensible default options, use the nix-installer
from determinate.systems.
Then, to try out isd, simply run nix run https://github.com/isd-project/isd.
To install isd, add it to your packages list:
# flake.nix
{
# [...]
inputs.isd.url = "https://github.com/isd-project/isd"
# [...]
outputs = {self, ...}@inputs: {
# [...]
# inside nixosConfigurations..modules or
# {
# environment.systemPackages = [ inputs.isd.default ];
# };
# homeConfigurations..modules =
