---
id: circus
version: "0.19.0"
license: unclear
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: dormant
---

# circus — Circus is a program that will let you run and watch multiple processes and sockets.

License: permissive · Maintenance: dormant · Downloads: 408.6K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Circus is a process and socket manager that lets you run and monitor multiple processes simultaneously. It works as both a standalone command-line tool and a Python library, making it suitable for applications that need programmatic control over process lifecycles. The package depends on psutil for system monitoring, pyzmq for inter-process communication, and tornado for its web interface and async handling.

The tool is classified as Production/Stable and supports Python 3.7 through 3.13 on Linux, macOS, and Windows. While maintenance is dormant (no release in 547 days), the repository remains accessible and recent commits suggest the code is stable.

Use it for:

- Running and supervising multiple worker processes in a production application without external system dependencies.
- Monitoring socket connections and process health in real time through a programmatic interface.
- Building custom process orchestration logic within a Python application using the library API.
- Managing daemon processes on systems where systemd or supervisor are not available or not preferred.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Circus runs and watches multiple processes and sockets, offering process lifecycle management and monitoring through both a command-line interface and a Python library.

Yes, if you need lightweight, Python-native process management and can tolerate dormant maintenance. The low install friction, permissive license, and stable codebase make it suitable for production use. However, consider alternatives if you require active security updates or anticipate needing support for future Python versions.

## Install

pip install circus
uv add circus
poetry add circus

## Installing circus

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance is dormant—no release in 547 days—but the repository remains active with a recent commit on 2025-02-10 and 1578 stars, suggesting the codebase is stable rather than abandoned.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache Software License (permissive), allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install circus

import circus
# Use circus.watcher.Watcher or circus.circusd for process management

Requires psutil, pyzmq, and tornado as runtime dependencies; Python 3.7 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether dormant maintenance status affects security patching or compatibility with future Python versions.
- Real-world performance and stability compared to modern alternatives.
- Whether the command-line interface or library API is the primary use pattern in practice.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: dormant
- Downloads: 408.6K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

process manager, process supervisor, socket watcher, process monitoring, daemon management, multi-process runner, process lifecycle control, process-management, daemon-supervision

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/circus) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/circus/)