Hostctl is a lightweight command-line interface (CLI) tool designed to simplify the management of Windows hosts files by enabling users to create, edit, organize, and maintain tagged entries. Built with flexibility in mind, Hostctl allows seamless operations such as listing existing entries, adding new ones, editing or removing specific records, managing tags for better organization, and creating backups for data protection.
Key Features:
Tag Management: Organize hosts entries using tags to categorize and filter by relevant criteria.
Sorting Capabilities: List entries sorted by IP address, hostname, or tag for enhanced readability and efficiency.
Backup Creation: Generate backups of the hosts file to ensure data integrity and recovery options.
Command-Line Interface: Operate entirely from the command line for quick execution and integration into scripts.
Ideal for system administrators, network engineers, and developers who need precise control over their Windows hosts files, Hostctl streamlines tasks that would otherwise be cumbersome. By offering tag-based organization and sorting, it enhances productivity and reduces errors in managing network configurations. Installable via winget, Hostctl is a practical solution for maintaining efficient and organized hosts file operations.
README
🎉 Hostctl
Hostctl is a Windows CLI for managing the system hosts file with tag-based organization. It lets you list, add, edit, and remove host entries, group them with tags for filtering, and back up the hosts file before making changes.
✨ Features
List entries with tag filtering, sorting (ip, name, tag) and ascending/descending order
--all includes disabled (commented-out) entries in the listing, prefixed with #
--json on list/tags for scripting
Add, edit, and remove hosts entries with multi-hostname and comment support
--dry-run on add/edit/remove previews the change without writing to the hosts file
remove asks for confirmation before deleting (skip with -y/--yes; required when run non-interactively)
Tag entries (+web,-old syntax) and list all tags in use
Back up the hosts file before modifying it — every write prints the backup path it created
Ships as a single self-contained .exe — no separate .NET runtime install required
✅ Requirements
Windows OS
Administrator privileges for commands that write to the hosts file (add, edit, remove, backup) — --dry-run previews changes without elevation
.NET 6 SDK (only needed if building from source)
> [!IMPORTANT]
> Run add, edit, remove, and backup from an elevated (Administrator) shell — without it, these commands fail when they try to write to the hosts file.
hostctl CLI
Usage:
hostctl [OPTIONS]
hostctl [ARGS]
Commands:
list List host entries
add Add a new host entry
edit Edit an existing host entry
remove Remove a host entry
tags List all tags currently in use
backup Create a timestamped backup of the hosts file
help Print this message or the help of the given subcommand(s)
Options:
-h, --help
Print help (see a summary with '-h')
-V, --version
Print version
Notes:
add, edit, remove, and backup require Administrator privileges (they write to the hosts file).
Every write creates a timestamped backup and prints its path: .bak_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss
Exit codes: 0 = success, 1 = error, 2 = invalid usage/arguments.
Tags metadata: C:\ProgramData\hostctl\hosts.tags.json
Hosts file : C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Run hostctl --help (e.g. hostctl remove --help) for a command's full flag list — every command supports -h/--help and -V/--version.
Examples
hostctl list --tag web --sort ip
hostctl list --all --json
hostctl add --ip 10.0.0.5 --host api.local --tag web,dev
hostctl edit --host api.local --ip 10.0.0.6 --dry-run
hostctl remove --host api.local --yes
⚡ Changelog
2.0.0 — breaking changes:
-v (lowercase) is no longer an alias for --version — use -V (uppercase) or --version. Lowercase -v is reserved for a possible future --verbose flag.
Exit codes: 2 now means invalid usage/arguments (e.g. a missing required flag or an unrecognized --sort value), 1 is a runtime error, 0 is success — previously every failure exited 1.
list --all previously did nothing (a parsing bug always hid commented-out entries); it now genuinely shows them, prefixed with #.
1.0.0 — initial release: list/add/edit/remove/tags/backup commands for the Windows hosts file, with tag-based filtering and sorting.
