python-dmon 0.3.0

A lightweight, cross-platform daemon manager that runs any command as a background process.

python-dmon

A lightweight, cross-platform daemon manager that runs any command — called a task — as a background process. It also supports logging and log rotation out of the box. No Docker or extra dependencies required.

Shipped as the CLI tool dmon. It is a Python-based and more powerful successor to the handy-backend shell scripts.

Features

• 🖥️ Cross-platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
• ⚡ Lightweight: Pure Python, no Docker or external dependencies needed.
• 🧩 Flexible tasks: Tasks can be configured in pyproject.toml or dmon.yaml; or run ad-hoc commands directly.
• 🪵 Logging & log rotation: Automatically manage log files to prevent uncontrolled growth.

Installation

python-dmon is available on PyPI:

pip install python-dmon

We recommend installing into an isolated environment, e.g., with uv / pipx:

# Install globally with uv tool
uv tool install python-dmon

# Or with pipx
pipx install python-dmon

# Add as a dev dependency in your project
uv add --dev python-dmon

You can also invoke without installing:

# With uvx (uv tool run)
uvx python-dmon

# Or with pipx
pipx run python-dmon

To get the latest features, install from source:

pip install git+https://github.com/atomiechen/python-dmon.git

Getting Started

Prepare Configuration

Create a dmon.yaml file:

tasks:
  app: ["python", "-u", "server.py"]  # option 1: exec form
  # app: "python -u server.py"  # option 2: shell string

Or add to your pyproject.toml:

[tool.dmon.tasks]
app = ["python", "-u", "server.py"]  # option 1: exec form
# app = "python -u server.py"  # option 2: shell string

Commands can be a single string (run in shell), or list of strings (exec form). See Example Configuration for more configuration options.

Run tasks

Run a configured task by its name:

# Start a task
dmon start app

# Stop a running task
dmon stop app

# Restart a task
dmon restart app

# Check task status
dmon status app

# Execute a task in the foreground (useful for debugging)
dmon exec app

You can specify multiple tasks at once, e.g.: dmon start app1 app2 app3, except for dmon exec which only accepts one task.

Or use --all to operate on all tasks:

# all configured tasks
dmon start/stop/restart --all
# all running tasks
dmon stop/status --all

If you have defined default_task, or only one task is defined in the config file, you can omit the task name:

dmon start
dmon stop
dmon restart
dmon status
dmon exec

You can use --config to specify a custom config file or the directory containing it:

dmon start --config /path/to/dmon.yaml app  # YAML
dmon start --config /path/to/pyproject.toml app  # or TOML
dmon start --config /path/to/dir app  # dir with `dmon.y(a)ml` or `pyproject.toml`

And yes, you can use dmon to run in a nested manner:

tasks:
  app: ["python", "-u", "server.py"]
  nested: pwd && dmon exec app  # nest `dmon exec`
  subdir_task1:
    cwd: /path/to/dir
    cmd: ["dmon", "exec", "app"]  # run task defined in another folder
  subdir_task2: dmon exec app --config /path/to/dir/dmon.yaml  # like above

Run an ad-hoc command

# Run a command with arguments in the background
dmon run --name myserver python -u server.py

# Run a shell command in the background
dmon run --shell echo "Hello World"

# Run a shell script in the background
dmon run --cwd /path/to/script bash myscript.sh

[!NOTE] If no name is provided, dmon automatically assigns a fixed task name default_run to prevent duplicate runs.

List all running tasks

dmon list

Example Configuration

A task can be a string, list, or dictionary.

Here is a more complete example with default values:

tasks:
  your_task_name:
    # Command to run; can be a string (run in shell) or list of strings (exec form)
    cmd: ["python", "server.py"]  # required
    cwd: "/path/to/working/dir"  # (default: current dir)
    env:  # (default: inherit from parent process)
      PYTHONUNBUFFERED: "1"
    override_env: false  # override parent env and only use env defined here
    log_path: "logs/<task>.log" # path to log file
    log_rotate: false  # enable log rotation
    log_max_size: 5  # max log file size before rotation in MB
    rotate_log_path: "logs/<task>.rotate.log"  # path to rotation log
    rotate_log_max_size: 5  # max rotation log file size in MB
    meta_path: ".dmon/<task>.meta.json"  # path to meta file
default_task: your_task_name  # the default task name

In TOML, write like this:

[tool.dmon.tasks]
your_task_name = { cmd = [
  "python", "-u", "server.py"
], ... }
another_task = "cd subdir && ls && bash start.sh"

[tool.dmon]
default_task = "your_task_name"

Under the Hood

Each task is associated with a meta file (e.g. .dmon/<task>.meta.json) stored in the current working directory. The file contains details such as the command, PID, log path, and more. Do not modify or delete these files manually.

License

python-dmon © 2025 by Atomie CHEN is licensed under the MIT License.