wsl-manager-tui (wslm)
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wslm is free and open source. If it saves you time, you can support continued
development:
A terminal UI to manage Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) distributions —
list, start/stop, launch shells, monitor memory and CPU, transfer, and edit
configuration — all from a single screen.
╭ wslm — WSL Manager ──────────────────────────────────── EN ╮
│ NAME STATE VER DEFAULT DISK │
│ ▌Debian ● Running 2 ★ 4.2 GB │
│ Ubuntu-24.04 ○ Stopped 2 8.1 GB │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
╭ Debian ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ State ● Running Default ★ │
│ Version 2 Disk 4.2 GB │
│ Path C:\Users\me\…\Debian\LocalState │
│ VM Mem 1.8 GB / 8.0 GB ▕██████░░░░░░░░▏ 23% │
│ VM CPU 4.7 % ▕█░░░░░░░░░░░░░▏ │
│ Trend Mem ▁▂▃▅▇▆▄▃ CPU ▁▁▂▁▃▂▁▁ │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
⏎ shell · w tab · x stop · d default · e export · m import
↑↓/jk move · / filter · ? help · q quit
The detail pane, footer, and theme are illustrative — colors (a teal accent,
green/amber/red gauges) don't show here. The bottom two lines are a
context footer (the actions available for the selected distro's state) and
a global hint line.
Features
- List every registered distro with state, WSL version, default flag and
on-disk size. State is detected without parsing localized strings, so it is
correct under any Windows display language.
- Lifecycle: start, stop (terminate), shut down the whole VM, set default,
and unregister (with a type-the-name confirmation).
- Shells: open a shell inline (the TUI suspends and resumes on exit) or in
a new Windows Terminal tab.
- Managed export/import:
e exports the selected distro into
%USERPROFILE%\wsl-manager\exports\ (the file extension selects the format:
.tar, .tar.gz, .tar.xz, or .vhdx); m opens a picker over that
folder — press c for a custom archive path or d to delete an entry.
Imported distros are stored under installed\\ inside the same managed
root (configurable via manage_dir in config.toml). Long operations show a
cancellable progress dialog. Install new distros from the online catalog with
i.
- Resource monitor: WSL VM memory and CPU usage as inline gauges with live
sparklines (the WSL2 VM is shared by all distros, so these are machine-wide).
When a running distro is selected, its in-distro disk usage (
df) is sampled
once and shown too.
- Config editor: edit
.wslconfig and a distro's wsl.conf with a
known-key form or raw text; unknown keys and comments are preserved, and the
previous file is backed up to *.bak.
- Bilingual UI: switch between English and Japanese at runtime (
L).
- Filter the list incrementally (
/) and an in-app help overlay (?).
Keybindings
| Key | Action |
|---|
j / k, ↑ / ↓ | Move selection |
/ | Filter the list (Esc clears) |
Enter | Open an inline shell (exit returns to wslm) |
w / Shift+Enter | Open a shell in a new Windows Terminal tab |
s | Start (boot) the distro |
x | Stop (terminate) the distro |
X | Shut down the whole WSL VM |
d | Set as default |
u | Unregister — delete (type the name to confirm) |
e | Export to the managed folder (extension selects format) |
m | Import — pick from the managed folder (c custom path, d delete) |
i | Install from the online catalog |
c / C | Edit .wslconfig / wsl.conf |
L | Toggle English / Japanese |
r | Refresh now |
? | Help |
q | Quit (Ctrl+C forces quit) |
In the config editor: Tab toggles the form/raw view, Ctrl+S saves.
Requirements
- Windows 10/11 with WSL2
- Rust toolchain 1.96+ (pinned via
rust-toolchain.toml)
Install / build
Download a release
Grab the prebuilt wslm.exe from the
Releases page (each
v* tag publishes one), drop it anywhere on your PATH, and run wslm. It is
a single self-contained executable with no install step.
Install with Scoop
wslm is published in the nakaba-lab Scoop bucket:
scoop bucket add nakaba-lab https://github.com/nakaba-lab/scoop-bucket
scoop install wslm
scoop update wslm upgrades to the latest release.
Install with Cargo
cargo install wsl-manager-tui
Installs the wslm binary from crates.io
(a Windows host with WSL2 is required to run it).
Build from source
cargo run # build and run `wslm` from source
cargo build --release
The release build produces a single, dependency-free target/release/wslm.exe
(stripped, LTO).
Options
wslm --lang # override the saved UI language
wslm --poll-interval # override the refresh interval
Preferences (language, poll interval, history length, keybinding style, and the
default Enter shell-launch mode) are saved to
%APPDATA%\wsl-manager-tui\config.toml. For example:
lang = "ja"
poll_interval_secs = 2
keybind_style = "both" # both | arrows-only | vim-only
default_shell_launch = "inline" # inline | new-tab
Development
cargo fmt --all
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo test --all
Integration tests that invoke the real wsl.exe / registry are marked
#[ignore]; run them with cargo test -- --ignored.
Contributing
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for
inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual
licensed as below, without any additional terms or conditions.
License
Licensed under either of
at your option.