bdsh

Better Distributed Shell - run commands on multiple hosts with a consensus view of the output.

Usage

bdsh host1,host2,host3 -- uname -a
bdsh @hosts.txt -- apt update
bdsh @"kubectl get nodes -o name" -- uptime

Host Sources

• Inline: host1,host2,host3
• File: @hosts.txt - one host per line, supports tags and comments
• Command: @"command" - use output of command as host list

Tag Filtering

Hosts file can include tags:

web1 :web :prod
web2 :web :prod
db1 :db :prod
dev1 :web :dev

Filter with:

• :web - hosts with tag
• :web:prod - hosts with both tags (AND)
• :web,:db - hosts with either tag (OR)

bdsh @hosts.txt :prod -- systemctl status nginx

Architecture

bdsh creates a tmux session with:

• Window 0: Watch mode TUI showing consensus view of all output
• Window 1-N: One window per host running ssh host command

Output is captured to $output_dir/$host/out.log via pipe-pane.

Watch Mode TUI

The consensus view shows output that's identical across hosts normally, and highlights differences:

[>2] Checking for upgrades...     <- 2 hosts differ, expandable
     [97] │ (0 candidates): 100%  <- 97 hosts have this
    host1 │ (1 candidates): 100%  <- 1 host differs

Keys

Status Indicators

• ⠋ (spinner) - running
• ⌨ (blinking) - waiting for input
• ✓ - success
• ✗ - failed

Options

--watch <DIR>      Watch an output directory (standalone mode)
-o, --output-dir   Output directory (default: temp)
-k, --keep         Keep output directory on exit
--no-watch         Skip watch window, just run commands

Development

Building

cargo build           # Debug build
cargo build --release # Release build
cargo test            # Run tests

Documentation

See Additional Documentation for more details on configuration and advanced usage.

Making a Release

Releases are automated via cargo-dist. When a version tag is pushed, GitHub Actions builds binaries for macOS and Linux, creates a GitHub release, and updates the Homebrew formula.

# Bump version, publish to crates.io, create tag
cargo release patch --execute --no-confirm  # or minor/major

# Push tag to trigger release workflow (using jj/git)
jj git push --all  # or: git push origin --tags

This will:

1. Publish to crates.io
2. Build binaries for macOS (arm64, x86_64) and Linux (arm64, x86_64)
3. Create a GitHub release with downloadable archives (including man page)
4. Update the Homebrew formula at brianm/homebrew-tools

Alternatives

• dsh
• pssh
• clusterssh
• pdsh