# vishnubob/wait-for-it

Pure bash script to test and wait on the availability of a TCP host and port

Repository: https://github.com/vishnubob/wait-for-it
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/wait-for-it
Language: Python
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2024-06-10T23:39:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3865, "days_push": 814, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 9772, forks 2235 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:37.120031+00:00)

## What it is
wait-for-it is a pure bash script that tests and waits for the availability of a TCP host and port, with optional timeout and strict mode. It is commonly used to synchronize the startup of interdependent services such as linked Docker containers.

## Use cases
- wait for a database to be ready before starting an app in docker-compose
- block a container startup until a dependent service's TCP port is open
- check if a host and port are reachable from a shell script
- delay service startup until another container is listening
- run a command only after a service becomes available

## When to choose
- you need a dependency-free bash script to gate startup on TCP availability
- you orchestrate docker containers with inter-service startup dependencies
- you want a tiny, portable readiness check for shell scripts

## When to avoid
- you need HTTP-level health checks rather than raw TCP port checks
- you want a full service orchestration or init system like supervisord or s6
- you need readiness checks in a non-bash environment without a shell

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: maintenance
- function: cli, networking, developer-tools, deployment
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: bash-script, tcp-health-check, docker-compose, service-readiness, container-orchestration-helper, devops, containers, command-line, linux, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- vishnubob/wait-for-it (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:37.120031+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:21:02.443219+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vishnubob/wait-for-it (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:37.120031+00:00, sha 8496a8c12f2c)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.