https://github.com/yuriescl/tinytaskmanager
Tiny daemon-less task manager for Linux, MacOS and Unix-like systems. Written as a single Python script.
https://github.com/yuriescl/tinytaskmanager
docker podman process-manager python supervisor supervisord systemd task-manager
Last synced: 13 days ago
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Tiny daemon-less task manager for Linux, MacOS and Unix-like systems. Written as a single Python script.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/yuriescl/tinytaskmanager
- Owner: yuriescl
- License: mit
- Created: 2022-03-27T18:11:13.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: dev
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-30T22:31:15.000Z (27 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-31T00:14:30.550Z (27 days ago)
- Topics: docker, podman, process-manager, python, supervisor, supervisord, systemd, task-manager
- Language: Python
- Homepage:
- Size: 85 KB
- Stars: 3
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
Tiny task manager for Linux, MacOS and Unix-like systems.
Written as a single Python script.
## Installation
Download the script directly (recommended):
```
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yuriescl/tinytaskmanager/dev/tinytaskmanager.py -o tinytaskmanager
chmod +x tinytaskmanager
./tinytaskmanager
```
### Alternative installation methods
#### Installing through pip
```
pip install tinytaskmanager
tinytaskmanager # or python -m tinytaskmanager
```
Requirements:
- `python` >=3.8
- `ps` (usually available by default)
Features:
- No root access required
- Daemon-less
- Easily start, watch, and stop tasks using very simple and direct CLI commands
- Written as a single script built using only the Python standard library - easy to audit and run
Comparison to other popular server task managers:
- [systemctl](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemctl.html)
- Pros
- Sophisticated dependency management via `WantedBy`
- Works well with system services
- Usually installed by default in any modern server
- Many advanced options, useful for fine-grained control of system services
- Cons
- Unit files are required every time you need to setup a simple background task
- Difficult to work with when you're not the root user (`systemctl --user` is not so simple to use)
- If not installed in the system, can be difficult to install and setup as a non-privileged user
- Difficult for beginners and non-sysadmins
- [supervisord](http://supervisord.org/)
- Pros
- Very advanced and fine-grained control of tasks, similar to systemctl
- Cons
- Not usually installed by default in modern servers
- Even if installed, usually requires root access
- Difficult for beginners and non-sysadmins
- [pm2](https://pm2.keymetrics.io/)
- Pros
- Modern codebase (JavaScript)
- Can be easily installed via `npm install pm2`
- Has advanced integration with Node.js programs (cluster mode, load balancing, etc)
- Widely known and used in Node.js ecosystem
- Cons
- Not usually installed by default in modern servers
- Might not work so well with non-Node.js software
- Requires `node` and `npm` to be installed
- Might consume more RAM than intended since it's JavaScript
- Can be a bit difficult to setup and run simple tasks
- [docker](https://www.docker.com/)
- Pros
- Quickly spin up a development/production instance given a properly configured Dockerfile
- Container/Dockerfile can be easily shared accross a development team so everyone can test in same OS environment
- Widely available and used across many different platforms
- All dependencies can be installed in the container
- Cons
- Requires root access
- Usually the processes run as the root user, which can lead to major security vulnerabilities
- Very hard for beginners and non-sysadmins
- Difficult to run simple tasks that don't need containers
`tinytaskmanager` (previously named `ttm`) was initially an attempt (after painfully having to deal with the existing options like PM2, systemctl, etc) to have a script I could easily copy to a server and manage simple tasks like a `gunicorn` server, or a `celery` worker. After a while, `tinytaskmanager` became a very useful tool in day-to-day deployments, so it made sense to make it public.
**Examples**
Running a script:
```
$ tinytaskmanager run ./backup-database.sh --output /backups/database.sql
$ tinytaskmanager ls
ID NAME COMMAND UPTIME PID
1 - ./backup-database.sh --output /backups/database.sql 2s 742537
$ tinytaskmanager stop 1
$ tinytaskmanager rm 1
```
Running Django server:
```
$ tinytaskmanager run --name mydjangoserver python manage.py runserver
$ tinytaskmanager rm mydjangoserver
Cannot remove task while it's running.
To stop it, run:
tinytaskmanager stop mydjangoserver
$ tinytaskmanager logs mydjangoserver
$ tinytaskmanager rm mydjangoserver
```
## Development
### Environment
```
poetry env use python3.8
poetry install
poetry shell
```