💡 A tiny, practical tool that lets any executable or script run as a real Windows service, with zero boilerplate.
Running background applications or daemons as Windows services should be easy — but in reality, Windows makes it tricky.
If you've ever tried to:
- Wrap a custom binary as a service
- Automatically restart a tool on failure
- Avoid writing a Windows service in C++ or wrestling with the Windows API
- Escape painful
sc.exesyntax and quoting errors
Then WSW is for you.
- 🧠 Simple CLI interface: one command installs and starts your service
- ⚙️ Wraps any executable — even with arguments
- 💥 Automatic restart if the wrapped process crashes
- 🧼 Clean install/uninstall without needing
sc.exe - 📜 Logs every restart attempt and failure
- 💼 Built with pure Rust
# using cargo
cargo install --git https://github.com/ferama/wswor download a prebuilt binary from github release page
wsw.exe install --name myapp --cmd "C:\MyApp\app.exe --arg1 --arg2"This will:
- Install
wsw.exeas a Windows service namedmyapp - Configure it to launch
app.exe --arg1 --arg2 - Automatically start it
wsw.exe uninstall --name myappStops and removes the service cleanly.
You can also run it directly without installing as a service:
wsw.exe run --cmd "C:\MyApp\app.exe --arg1 --arg2"This is how the Windows Service Manager internally starts it — useful for debugging.
WSW installs itself as a service and monitors a child process (your actual app).
If the child process exits or crashes, WSW logs the event and restarts it after a short delay.
This makes your app:
- Service-friendly
- Resilient to crashes
- Easy to deploy
- Running a Go, Rust, Net, any other runnable app as a service
- Auto-starting a CLI tool with logging on boot
- Running off-the-shelf tools like Python or Powershell scripts in the background
- Easy service wrapping in CI setups or cloud VMs
Windows Defender or other antivirus software might incorrectly flag wsw as a virus. This is because it uses low-level Windows APIs
to install itself as a service, which can be interpreted as malicious behavior by some security tools.
To prevent this you can exlude the directory where wsw is installed from Windows Defender
using a command like this:
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "C:\Path\To\wsw"Replace C:\Path\To\wsw with the actual installation path.
MIT
Got an idea or edge case? Open an issue or pull request — it's a tiny project, but it loves real-world use!