README
¶
The boring tunnel manager
A simple command line SSH tunnel manager that just works.
Features
- Ultra lightweight and fast
- Local, remote and dynamic (SOCKS5) port forwarding
- Compatible with SSH config and
ssh-agent - Supports Unix sockets
- Automatic reconnection and keep-alives
- Human-friendly configuration via TOML
Usage
Usage:
boring list, l List all tunnels
boring open, o (-a | <patterns>...)
<patterns>... Open tunnels matching any glob pattern
-a, --all Open all tunnels
boring close, c Close tunnels (same options as 'open')
boring edit, e Edit the configuration file
boring version, v Show the version number
Configuration
By default, boring reads its configuration from ~/.boring.toml on macOS and Windows, and from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/boring/.boring.toml on Linux. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set, it defaults to ~/.config. The location of the config file can be overriden by setting $BORING_CONFIG. The config is a simple TOML file describing your tunnels:
# simple tunnel
[[tunnels]]
name = "dev"
local = "9000"
remote = "localhost:9000"
host = "dev-server" # automatically matches host against SSH config
# example of an explicit host (no SSH config)
[[tunnels]]
name = "prod"
local = "5001"
remote = "localhost:5001"
host = "prod.example.com"
user = "root"
identity = "~/.ssh/id_prod" # will try default ones if not set
# ... more tunnels
Currently, supported options are:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
name |
Alias for the tunnel. Required. |
local |
Local address. Can be a "$host:$port" network address or a Unix socket. Can be abbreviated as "$port" in local and socks modes. Required in local, remote and socks modes. |
remote |
Remote address. As above, but can be abbreviated in remote and socks-remote modes. Required in local, remote and socks-remote modes. |
host |
Either a host alias that matches SSH configs or the actual hostname. Required. |
mode |
Mode of the tunnel. Can be either "local", "remote", "socks" or "socks-remote". Default is "local". |
user |
SSH user. If not set, tries to read it from SSH config, defaulting to $USER. |
identity |
SSH identity file. If not set, tries to read it from SSH config and ssh-agent, defaulting to standard identity files. |
port |
SSH port. If not set, tries to read it from SSH config, defaulting to 22. |
Installation
Homebrew
brew install boring
Pre-built
Get one of the pre-built binaries from the releases page. Then move the binary to a location in your $PATH.
Build yourself
git clone https://github.com/alebeck/boring && cd boring
./build.sh
Then move the binary to a location in your $PATH.
Note for Windows users
Windows is fully supported since release 0.6.0. Users currently have to build from source, which is very easy. Make sure Go >= 1.23.0 is installed and then compile viagit clone https://github.com/alebeck/boring && cd boring
.\build_win.bat
Then, move the executable to a location in your %PATH%.
Shell completion
Shell completion scripts are available for bash, zsh, and fish.
If boring was installed via Homebrew, and you have Homebrew completions enabled, nothing needs to be done.
Otherwise, install completions by adding the following to your shell's config file:
Bash
eval "$(boring --shell bash)"
Zsh
source <(boring --shell zsh)
Fish
boring --shell fish | source
Directories