T-Serve

A lightweight, terminal-based service manager for Linux systems using systemctl.

Manage your system services with an intuitive TUI (Terminal User Interface) — no mouse needed.

Preview

┌─ Services ──────────────┐┌─ Status Output ────────────────────────────────┐
│ > docker                ││ docker - Docker Application Container Engine   │
│   ollama                ││ Active   : active (running) since...           │
│   ssh                   ││ Disabled : no                                  │
│                         ││ Masked   : no                                  │
│                         ││ Main PID : 1234                                │
│                         ││ Memory   : 45.2M                               │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
│                         ││                                                │
└─────────────────────────┘└────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ [A] Add | [S] Start | [R] Restart | [X] Stop | [M] Mask | [U] UnMask      │
│ [E] Enable | [D] Disable | [Backsp/Del] Delete | [Q] Quit                 │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Installation

Via npm (recommended)

npm install -g @ravishranjan/t-serve

Then run it from anywhere:

t-serve

Via git (for development)

git clone https://github.com/Ravish-Ranjan/t-serve.git
cd t-serve
npm install
node index.js

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 16.0.0
• Linux system with systemd
• sudo privileges

Features

• Clean Terminal UI — keyboard-driven interface built with blessed
• Quick Service Control — start, stop, restart with a single keypress
• Real-time Status — view service status, PID, and memory usage at a glance
• Service Management — enable, disable, mask, and unmask services
• Custom Watch List — add and remove services you care about
• Secure — password prompts for sudo operations, never stored or logged
• Mouse-free — efficient keyboard navigation throughout

Keyboard Shortcuts

| Key | Action | Description | |-----|--------|-------------| | a | Add Service | Add a new service to your watch list | | s | Start | Start the selected service | | r | Restart | Restart the selected service | | x | Stop | Stop the selected service | | e | Enable | Enable the selected service at boot | | d | Disable | Disable the selected service at boot | | m | Mask | Mask the selected service | | u | Unmask | Unmask the selected service | | Backsp / Del | Delete | Remove service from watch list (with confirmation) | | ↑ / ↓ | Navigate | Move through the service list | | Esc | Cancel | Cancel input dialogs | | q / Ctrl+C | Quit | Exit the application |

How It Works

T-Serve wraps systemctl commands under the hood:

• Status Display — runs systemctl status <service> to fetch real-time info
• Service Control — executes systemctl start/stop/restart/enable/disable/mask/unmask <service> with sudo
• Data Storage — service watch list is persisted in a local services.db SQLite file, created automatically on first run
• Password Security — uses sudo -S to securely handle password input via stdin

Security Notes

• Passwords are entered via a censored input field (shown as asterisks)
• Passwords are passed to sudo via stdin and never stored or logged
• Always verify the service name before performing destructive operations

Troubleshooting

"Command not found: systemctl"
T-Serve requires systemd. Make sure you're on a systemd-based distro (Ubuntu 16.04+, Debian 8+, Fedora, Arch, etc.).

"Permission Denied"
Ensure you have sudo privileges and enter the correct password when prompted.

"Service Not Found"
Service names must match exactly as they appear in systemd. Run the following to see all available services:

systemctl list-units --type=service

Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add my feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

Licensed under the GNU GPL v2.0.

Author

Ravish Ranjan — github.com/Ravish-Ranjan

If you find this project useful, consider giving it a ⭐ on GitHub!