Homeaway

A CLI tool to quickly toggle your macOS WiFi between manual (static IP) and DHCP mode.

Features

Smart IP Detection: Automatically scans and finds an available IP in your subnet
DNS Management: Clears DNS settings when switching to DHCP (configurable)
First-Run Wizard: Interactive setup on first run
Simple Interface: Just run homeaway and toggle with a single keypress

Installation

Via RubyGems (Recommended)

gem install homeaway

Via curl (One-liner)

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GoodBran/homeaway/main/bin/homeaway -o /usr/local/bin/homeaway && chmod +x /usr/local/bin/homeaway

From Source

git clone https://github.com/GoodBran/homeaway.git
cd homeaway
ruby -Ilib bin/homeaway

Usage

Simply run:

homeaway

First Run

On first run, you'll be prompted to configure:

Default router address (default: 192.168.1.1)
Whether to clear DNS when toggling to DHCP (default: yes)
Default DNS server (default: 8.8.8.8)

Configuration is stored at ~/.config/homeaway/config.yml.

Normal Usage

$ homeaway
Current mode: DHCP

Toggle to Manual mode? [Y/n]: y

Scanning for available IP in 192.168.1.x range...
Configuring static IP:
  IP Address: 192.168.1.42
  Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
  Router: 192.168.1.1
  DNS Server: 8.8.8.8

Successfully switched to Manual mode!
Your IP is now: 192.168.1.42

How It Works

Finding Available IP

When switching to manual mode, the tool:

Scans the range 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.254
Pings each IP to check if it's in use
Returns the first available IP address

Network Commands Used

The tool uses macOS's built-in networksetup command:

networksetup -listallhardwareports - Detects WiFi interface
networksetup -getinfo <device> - Gets current configuration
networksetup -setmanual <device> <ip> <subnet> <router> - Sets static IP
networksetup -setdhcp <device> - Enables DHCP
networksetup -setdnsservers <device> <dns> - Sets DNS
networksetup -setdnsservers <device> empty - Clears DNS

Requirements

macOS (uses networksetup command)
Ruby 2.6 or higher
Administrator privileges (for changing network settings)

Configuration File

# ~/.config/homeaway/config.yml
router: 192.168.1.1
clear_dns_on_dhcp: true
dns_server: 8.8.8.8
subnet_mask: 255.255.255.0

Security Note

This tool modifies system network settings. On macOS, you may need to:

Run with sudo: sudo homeaway
Or grant Terminal/ITerm permission to modify network settings in System Preferences

License

MIT

homeaway

Development