sysdui

A terminal UI for managing systemd services. Browse services, watch live logs, and control service lifecycle — all from one screen.

Install

From APT (Debian/Ubuntu)

curl -fsSL https://rhizonymph.github.io/sysdui/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/sysdui.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/sysdui.gpg] https://rhizonymph.github.io/sysdui stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sysdui.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install sysdui

From source

Requires Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024).

cargo install --path .

Usage

sysdui

Run as a normal user. When you perform an action on a system service (start, stop, etc.), sudo is invoked automatically — you'll see the password prompt in your terminal, then the TUI resumes. User services don't need elevation.

Logs are written to ~/.local/share/sysdui/sysdui.log. Set RUST_LOG=sysdui=debug for verbose output.

Keybindings

Press ? at any time to see the full list. All bindings are single lowercase keys — no shift combinations.

Navigation

Key	Action
j / k / arrows	Move up/down in service list
Enter	Select service (loads details + logs)
PgUp / PgDn	Scroll logs
Tab	Cycle focus between panes

Service Actions

Key	Action
s	Start
r	Restart
x	Stop
n	Enable
d	Disable
o	Daemon reload
e	Edit unit file in $EDITOR

Each action shows a confirmation prompt. Press y to confirm or any other key to cancel.

Search & Filter

Key	Action
/	Fuzzy search services by name
Ctrl-/	Search within log output
f	Cycle scope filter: User / System / Both
i	Toggle include/all mode
t	Cycle sort: Name / Status / Enabled
l	Cycle log priority: err / warning / notice / info / debug

Pane Management

Split the log area into multiple panes, each pinned to a different service — useful for watching related services side by side.

Key	Action
p	Split focused pane (then h for horizontal, v for vertical)
w	Close focused pane
Tab	Cycle focus between panes

Mouse

Action	Effect
Click service	Select it in sidebar
Double-click service	Select + load logs into focused pane
Right-click service	Context menu: Start / Stop / Restart / Enable / Disable / Split into pane
Click log pane	Focus that pane
Right-click log pane	Context menu: Split Horizontal / Vertical / Close
Middle-click log pane	Close pane
Scroll wheel over sidebar	Move selection up/down
Scroll wheel over log pane	Scroll that pane's logs (even if unfocused)
Click status bar	Cycle the clicked filter/sort (Scope / Status / Mode / Sort)

General

Key	Action
q	Quit
?	Show full keybinding help
Esc	Cancel / close overlay

Features

• Service list with color coding: green = active, red = failed, yellow = transitioning, gray = inactive. Failed services are always pinned to the top.
• Fuzzy search powered by nucleo — type a few characters of a service name to filter instantly.
• Live log tail streams journalctl output in real-time. Scroll up to freeze the view; a "new lines" counter appears so you don't lose your place.
• Detail panel shows status, PID, memory usage, uptime, unit file path, enabled state, and dependencies — updated in real-time via D-Bus signals.
• Pane splitting lets you watch logs from multiple services simultaneously in a tmux-like layout.
• Privilege escalation is handled transparently — the TUI suspends, runs sudo systemctl, and resumes. sudo's credential cache means you typically only authenticate once.
• User + system services are shown together (filterable). User services use systemctl --user and need no elevation.

Configuration

Optional. Place a file at ~/.config/sysdui/config.toml:

[filter]
mode = "all"         # "all" (show everything except excludes) or "include" (only show includes)
show = "both"        # "user", "system", or "both"
include = ["nginx.service", "sshd.service"]
exclude = ["systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service"]

[sort]
default = "name"     # "name", "status", or "enabled"

[log]
priority = "info"    # "err", "warning", "notice", "info", "debug"

[confirmations]
global = true        # set to false to skip all confirmation prompts
start = true
stop = true
restart = true
enable = true
disable = true
daemon_reload = true

[keys]
# Remap any binding. Value is a key combo string.
# Examples: "s", "ctrl-s", "f1", "enter"
start = "s"
stop = "x"
quit = "q"
# ... see source for all key names

Requirements

• Linux with systemd
• D-Bus (system and session bus)
• journalctl in $PATH
• sudo for system service actions