A simple command line SSH tunnel manager that just works
Get it: brew install boring
- Ultra lightweight and fast
- Local, remote and dynamic (SOCKS5) port forwarding
- Works with SSH config and
ssh-agent - Supports Unix sockets
- Automatic re-connection and keep-alives
- Human-friendly TOML configuration
- Cross-platform support
- Smart shell completions
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
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 $BORING_CONFIG. The config is a simple TOML file describing your tunnels:
# simple tunnel
[[tunnels]]
name = "dev"
local = "9000"
remote = "localhost:9000"
host = "dev-server" # automatically matches host against SSH config
# example of an explicit host (no SSH config)
[[tunnels]]
name = "prod"
local = "5001"
remote = "localhost:5001"
host = "prod.example.com"
user = "root"
identity = "~/.ssh/id_prod" # will try default ones if not set
# ... more tunnelsCurrently, supported options at tunnel level are:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
name |
Alias for the tunnel. Required. |
local |
Local address. Can be a "$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. |
Options that can be provided at global and tunnel level (tunnel level takes precedence):
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
keep_alive |
Keep-alive interval in seconds. Default: 120 (2 minutes). |
brew install boringGet one of the pre-built binaries from the releases page. Then move the binary to a location in your $PATH.
git clone https://github.com/alebeck/boring && cd boring
makeThen move the binary in dist to a location in your $PATH.
Note for Windows users
Windows is fully supported since release 0.6.0. Users currently have to build from source, which is very easy. Make sure Go >= 1.23.0 is installed and then compile viagit clone https://github.com/alebeck/boring && cd boring
.\build_win.batThen, move the executable to a location in your %PATH%.
Shell completion scripts are available for bash, zsh, and fish.
If boring was installed via Homebrew, and you have Homebrew completions enabled, nothing needs to be done.
Otherwise, install completions by adding the following to your shell's config file:
eval "$(boring --shell bash)"source <(boring --shell zsh)boring --shell fish | source- pkg.go.dev: https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/alebeck/boring
- Coveralls: https://coveralls.io/github/alebeck/boring?branch=main
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