servy

Servy

Servy lets you run any app as a native Windows service with full control over the working directory, startup type, process priority, CPU affinity, logging, health checks, environment variables, dependencies, pre-launch and post-launch hooks, pre-stop and post-stop hooks, and parameters.

Servy is digitally signed with a code-signing certificate provided by the SignPath Foundation. The signature verifies the publisher, enables Windows to detect any modification of the released binaries and installers, and prevents SmartScreen warnings.

Servy offers a desktop app, a CLI, and a PowerShell module that let you create, configure, and manage Windows services interactively or through scripts and CI/CD pipelines. It also includes a Manager app for monitoring and managing all installed services in real time.

Servy continuously monitors your app, restarting it automatically if it crashes, hangs, or stops. It is well suited to keeping non-service apps running in the background and ensuring they start automatically at system boot, even before logon, without rewriting them as services. Use it to run Node.js, Python, .NET, Java, Go, Rust, PHP, or Ruby applications; keep web servers, LLMs, background workers, sync tools, or daemons alive after reboots; and automate task runners, schedulers, or scripts in production with built-in health checks, logging, and restart policies.

Demo Video

This video demonstrates Servy 1.0. While Servy has evolved significantly since then with many features like real-time CPU/RAM monitoring, stdout/stderr streaming, heartbeat pings, notifications, and CPU affinity, the core concept remains the same.

Why?

See NOTES.md for details.

Getting Started

Download the latest release from GitHub or install via a package manager:

WinGet

winget install servy

Chocolatey

choco install -y servy

Scoop

scoop bucket add extras
scoop install servy

Patch My PC

Servy is available in the official Patch My PC catalog for enterprise automated deployment and updates via Microsoft Intune and ConfigMgr (SCCM).

[!NOTE] Legacy OS Support (Windows 7 SP1 / 8.x / Server 2008 R2): Package managers carry the self-contained modern build. For older platforms, download servy-x.x-net48-x64-installer.exe or servy-x.x-net48-x64-portable.7z directly from GitHub Releases (requires .NET Framework 4.8).

Quick Example

You can manage services using the desktop app (GUI), the CLI, or PowerShell.

Here's a minimal example using the CLI to run a Node.js app as a Windows service. Run it from an elevated PowerShell prompt: installing, starting and stopping a Windows service all require administrator privileges.

servy-cli install `
  --name="MyService" `
  --path="C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe" `
  --startupDir="C:\MyServer" `
  --params="server.js" `
  --enableHealth

This creates a service named MyService that runs your Node.js server in the background, starts automatically with Windows, and has health monitoring enabled.

Then start the service:

servy-cli start --name="MyService"

Or from an elevated Command Prompt:

sc.exe start MyService

Explore more examples and recipes for Python, Java, Go, and other popular frameworks.

Quick Links

• Download
• Installation Guide
• Overview
• Usage
• FAQ
• Full Documentation

Features

• Clean, simple UI
• Monitor and manage all installed services with Servy Manager
• Real-time CPU and RAM monitoring with live performance graphs for installed services
• Real-time service stdout and stderr output preview in Servy Console
• Service dependency tree visualization with status indicators
• CLI and PowerShell module for full scripting and automated deployments
• Run any executable as a Windows service
• Set service name, description, startup type, priority, CPU affinity, working directory, environment variables, and dependencies
• Environment variable expansion supported in parameters, process paths, and startup directories
• Run services as Local System, local or domain accounts, Active Directory accounts, or gMSAs
• Redirect stdout/stderr to log files with automatic size-based and date-based rotations
• Run pre-launch hooks before starting the service, with retries, timeout, logging and failure handling
• Run post-launch hooks after the application starts successfully
• Run pre-stop and post-stop hooks before and after the application stops
• Supports Ctrl+C for command-line apps, close-window for GUI apps, and force kill if unresponsive
• Supports Ctrl+C propagation to descendant processes of the wrapped process
• Prevent orphaned/zombie processes with improved lifecycle management while ensuring resource cleanup
• Health checks and automatic service recovery
• Browse and search logs by level, date, and keyword for faster troubleshooting from Servy Manager
• Export/Import service configurations for easy backups and automation
• Service Event Notification alerts on service failures via Windows notifications and email
• Modern build (default, self-contained): Windows 10 (1809+), Windows 11 and Windows Server 2016+, on x64 and ARM64
• Legacy build (net48, requires .NET Framework 4.8): Windows 7 SP1, 8.x and Windows Server 2008 R2+, x64 only - see the version comparison

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md.

Support & Contributing

Servy is free and open-source. If you use it in a commercial or revenue-generating context, or find it valuable, consider supporting the project via GitHub Sponsors, PayPal, or Buy Me a Coffee.

Open-source software requires time, effort, and resources to maintain. Every contribution, big or small, makes a difference and motivates continued work on features, bug fixes, and new ideas.

If you have suggestions or issues or would like to contribute, feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

Stats for Nerds

License

Servy is MIT licensed. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md for third-party software notices and licenses.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Christophe Rogiers, who helped make Servy more robust, more secure, and reliable through his countless contributions, insightful advice, and dedication to code quality. Thanks Christophe for being a key part of the project.

Thanks to SignPath for providing a free code signing service, and to the SignPath Foundation for supplying a free code signing certificate.

Thanks to JetBrains for providing an open-source license for their tools. Their software made it much easier to profile, debug, and optimize Servy, helping improve its performance and stability. Having access to these professional tools really made a difference during development and saved a lot of time.

Special thanks to everyone who tested Servy, reported issues, and suggested improvements on GitHub and Reddit. Your feedback and contributions have shaped the project and made it better with every release.