nic

A minimal, standalone network configuration tool for Linux. Single binary, zero dependencies, plain-text config.

Replaces systemd-networkd, netplan, and /etc/network/interfaces with one config file and one command.

Features

• Declarative config at /etc/nic.conf
• Full iproute2 pass-through (including abbreviated syntax like ip l s eth0 up)
• Shortcut syntax for common operations
• Interface aliasing and MAC pinning
• Built-in DHCP client with fallback (dhclient, dhcpcd, udhcpc)
• WiFi support (wpa_supplicant, iwd)
• DNS management with /etc/resolv.conf guarding
• Config includes with natural sort order
• Dry-run mode
• Automatic rollback with confirmation timeout
• Init system support: systemd, OpenRC, SysV, runit
• IPv6 with DAD awareness
• No external Go dependencies

Install

make build
sudo make install            # copies binary + default config
sudo make install-systemd    # also installs systemd service
sudo make install-openrc     # OpenRC
sudo make install-sysv       # SysV init
sudo make install-runit      # runit

Usage

nic <command> [options]

Commands:
  start                 Apply network configuration
  stop                  Tear down network configuration
  restart [options]     Stop and re-apply (with revert safety)
  reload [options]      Re-apply showing diff of changes
  status                Show current network state
  show                  Display parsed configuration
  dry-run               Show what would be done without applying
  confirm               Confirm changes after restart/reload
  install <init>        Install init scripts (systemd|openrc|sysv|runit)
  version               Show version

Options:
  --config=PATH         Config file (default: /etc/nic.conf)
  --verbose, -v         Show commands being executed
  --confirm-timeout=N   Seconds before automatic revert (default: 10)
  --force               Skip confirmation prompts

Configuration

Interface control

# Full iproute2
ip link set eth0 up

# Abbreviated (handled by ip binary)
ip l s eth0 up

# Shortcuts
if eth0 up
if eth0 down
up eth0
down eth0

IP addresses

# Full iproute2
ip address add 192.168.1.100/24 dev eth0

# Abbreviated
ip a a 192.168.1.100/24 dev eth0

# Shortcut (auto-adds /32 or /128 if no prefix)
ip 192.168.1.100/24 eth0
ip fd76:1e4b:375a::/48 eth0

Routes

# Full iproute2
ip route add default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0

# Abbreviated
ip r a default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0

# Shortcut
route default via 192.168.1.1 eth0
route 10.0.0.0/8 via 192.168.1.1 eth0
route 172.16.0.0/12 eth0

DNS

nameserver 1.1.1.1
ns 8.8.8.8

Writes /etc/resolv.conf and protects it with chattr +i.

DHCP

dhcp eth0              # auto-detects client
dhcp eth0 dhclient     # force specific client

Supports dhclient, dhcpcd, and udhcpc.

WiFi

wifi MyNetwork MyPassword         # auto-detect interface
wifi MyNetwork MyPassword wlan0   # specify interface

Uses wpa_supplicant or iwd, with WPA3 (SAE) support.

Aliases and MAC pinning

# Static alias
alias my_eth enp14s0

# Pin by MAC address (resolved at runtime)
pin my_eth aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

# Use alias in subsequent commands
if my_eth up
ip 192.168.1.100/24 my_eth

Includes

include nic.d/*.conf

Paths are relative to the config file directory. Files are loaded in natural sort order (2.conf before 10.conf).

Comments

# Full line comment
ip 10.0.0.1/24 eth0 # inline comment

Example: LACP bond with VLAN

# /etc/nic.conf

# Create bond
ip link add bond0 type bond mode 802.3ad xmit_hash_policy layer2+3 lacp_rate fast
ip link set eth0 down
ip link set eth1 down
ip link set eth0 master bond0
ip link set eth1 master bond0
if bond0 up

# VLAN on top of bond
ip link add link bond0 name bond0.100 type vlan id 100
ip 192.168.100.10/24 bond0.100
if bond0.100 up

# Default route and DNS
route default via 192.168.100.1 bond0.100
ns 1.1.1.1

Restart safety

nic restart and nic reload save the current network state before applying changes. If you don't run nic confirm within the timeout (default 10 seconds), the previous state is automatically restored. This prevents locking yourself out over SSH.

sudo nic restart --confirm-timeout=30
# test connectivity...
sudo nic confirm

Build

Requires Go 1.22+.

make build    # produces ./nic
make test     # run tests
make lint     # run golangci-lint

License

nic - network interfaces configurator
Copyright (C) 2026  c0m4r <https://github.com/c0m4r>

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published
by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU Affero General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.