systemd-client 0.4.0

High-level Python client for systemd user services: unit management, journal reading, sync + async

systemd-client

High-level Python client for systemd services (user + system scope). Async-first with sync wrappers, subprocess + optional D-Bus backends, CLI included.

Documentation: kalexnolasco.github.io/systemd-client

Features

• Async + Sync API — AsyncSystemdClient and SystemdClient with identical interfaces
• User + System scope — manage user session or system-wide services
• Unit management — list, status, cat, start, stop, restart, reload, try-restart, reload-or-restart, enable, disable, mask, unmask, reset-failed, batch ops
• Journal reader — query with filters (unit, priority, time range, grep) and real-time follow
• Pluggable backends — subprocess (default, zero deps) or D-Bus via dasbus
• Context managers — with SystemdClient() / async with AsyncSystemdClient() for cleanup
• Typed models — frozen dataclasses with full annotations, optional Pydantic support
• CLI — systemd-client command with table/JSON output, scope, batch, and no-block support
• Modern Python — 3.11+, StrEnum, slots, PEP 561 typed

Install

pip install systemd-client

Optional extras:

pip install systemd-client[dbus]      # D-Bus backend via dasbus
pip install systemd-client[pydantic]  # Pydantic model variants
pip install systemd-client[all]       # Everything

Quick Start

Sync

from systemd_client import SystemdClient

with SystemdClient() as client:
    # List services
    for unit in client.list_units(unit_type="service"):
        print(f"{unit.name}: {unit.active_state} ({unit.sub_state})")

    # Manage units
    client.restart("my-app.service")
    status = client.status("my-app.service")
    print(f"PID: {status.main_pid}, State: {status.active_state}")

    # Batch operations
    client.restart_units(["app.service", "worker.service"])

    # Journal
    entries = client.journal("my-app.service", lines=50, since="1h ago")
    for entry in entries:
        print(f"[{entry.priority}] {entry.message}")

Async

import asyncio
from systemd_client import AsyncSystemdClient

async def main():
    async with AsyncSystemdClient() as client:
        units = await client.list_units(unit_type="service")
        await client.restart("my-app.service")

        async for entry in client.journal_follow("my-app.service"):
            print(entry.message)

asyncio.run(main())

System Scope

from systemd_client import SystemdClient, SystemdScope

with SystemdClient(scope=SystemdScope.SYSTEM) as client:
    units = client.list_units(unit_type="service")

CLI

systemd-client list                                     # List all units
systemd-client list --type service                      # List services only
systemd-client list-unit-files --state enabled          # List installed unit files
systemd-client status my-app.service                    # Unit status
systemd-client cat my-app.service                       # Show unit file content
systemd-client restart my-app.service                   # Restart
systemd-client start a.service b.service                # Batch start
systemd-client restart --no-block my-app.service        # Non-blocking restart
systemd-client try-restart my-app.service               # Restart only if active
systemd-client reset-failed my-app.service              # Reset failed state
systemd-client journal -u my-app.service -n 50          # Last 50 log lines
systemd-client journal -u my-app.service --follow       # Follow logs
systemd-client --scope system list                      # System scope
systemd-client --json list                              # JSON output

Architecture

Your Application
    |
    +-- SystemdClient (sync)
    |       |
    +-- AsyncSystemdClient (async)
            |
            +-- SubprocessBackend ---- systemctl --user/--system ----> systemd
            |     (default)
            +-- DBusBackend ---------- D-Bus session/system bus ----> systemd
            |     (optional, dasbus)
            +-- AsyncJournalReader --- journalctl --output=json -----> journal

API Reference

Method	Return	Description
list_units(unit_type?, state?)	list[UnitInfo]	List loaded units
list_unit_files(unit_type?, state?)	list[UnitFileInfo]	List installed unit files
status(unit)	UnitStatus	Detailed status
cat(unit)	str	Unit file content
start(unit, no_block?)	None	Start unit
stop(unit, no_block?)	None	Stop unit
restart(unit, no_block?)	None	Restart unit
reload(unit, no_block?)	None	Reload unit
try_restart(unit, no_block?)	None	Restart if active
reload_or_restart(unit, no_block?)	None	Reload or restart
start_units(units, no_block?)	None	Batch start
stop_units(units, no_block?)	None	Batch stop
restart_units(units, no_block?)	None	Batch restart
enable(unit)	EnableResult	Enable unit
disable(unit)	EnableResult	Disable unit
mask(unit) / unmask(unit)	EnableResult	Mask/unmask
is_active(unit)	bool	Check active
is_enabled(unit)	bool	Check enabled
is_failed(unit)	bool	Check failed
daemon_reload()	None	Reload daemon
reset_failed(unit?)	None	Reset failed state
journal(unit?, lines?, ...)	list[JournalEntry]	Query journal
journal_follow(unit?, lines?, ...)	Iterator[JournalEntry]	Follow journal

Examples

See the examples/ directory for 15 ready-to-use scripts covering:

• Listing and monitoring services
• Start/stop/restart/enable operations
• Journal queries and real-time follow
• Health checks and failed unit reports
• Async concurrent operations
• Deploy workflows
• Batch operations

Requirements

• Python >= 3.11
• Linux with systemd
• systemctl and journalctl on PATH

License

LGPL-2.1-or-later

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systemd-client · Documentation · GitHub · PyPI