dtach-rs Nicolo Avanzini

Use this command to install dtach-rs:

winget install --id=nicoavanzdev.dtach-rs -e

A cross-platform Rust clone of dtach for detachable terminal sessions

dtach-rs

A small Rust clone of dtach: it runs one program under a pseudo-terminal, lets terminals attach and detach from it, and keeps the program alive after the original terminal goes away.

Installation

Pre-built binaries

Download the latest binary for your platform from the GitHub Releases page.

Windows (WinGet)

winget install nicoavanzdev.dtach-rs

macOS / Linux (Homebrew)

brew install nicoavanzdev/tap/dtach-rs

From source (cargo)

cargo install --git https://github.com/nicoavanzdev/dtach-rs

This implementation keeps the upstream dtach command-line shape:

dtach-rs -a  
dtach-rs -A   
dtach-rs -c   
dtach-rs -n   
dtach-rs -N   
dtach-rs -p

Features

-a: attach to an existing session.
-A: attach, or create the session if it does not exist.
-c: create a session and attach to it.
-n: create a detached session and exit.
-N: create a session and keep the master in the foreground.
-p: copy standard input to a session without scanning for detach keys.
-l, --list: list active sessions known to the per-user registry.
-e and -E: customize or disable the detach character.
-r none|ctrl_l|winch: choose the redraw behavior.
-z: disable local suspend handling.

The default detach key is ^\ (Ctrl-\), matching upstream dtach.

Cross-Platform Model

The original dtach uses Unix-domain sockets as session handles. To work on Windows and Unix with the same code path, dtach-rs stores a small descriptor file at the requested `` path. That descriptor points to an authenticated loopback control port owned by the master process.

The program PTY is provided by portable-pty, so Unix uses the platform PTY implementation and Windows uses ConPTY. Windows therefore requires a ConPTY capable system, normally Windows 10 October 2018 or newer. Interactive attach/detach behavior should be tested from a real terminal; headless Windows shells do not always exercise ConPTY like an attached console.

dtach-rs is not wire-compatible with the original C dtach; existing C dtach clients cannot attach to dtach-rs sessions, and vice versa.

Examples

Create or attach to a shell:

dtach-rs -A /tmp/work-shell bash

Create a detached session:

dtach-rs -n /tmp/work-shell bash

Send commands to a session:

printf 'cd /var/log\nls -l\n' | dtach-rs -p /tmp/work-shell

List active sessions:

dtach-rs -l
dtach-rs -l /tmp

On Windows, use a normal filesystem path for the session descriptor:

dtach-rs -A $env:TEMP\work-shell powershell

Development

This repository uses Rust 2024.

cargo build
cargo test