plottypusInstall

A system monitor for Apple Silicon.In the terminal.

Clusters and their clocks, GPU, watts, heat, fans, memory and processes. No sudo.

install
curl -fsSL https://plottypus.com/install.sh | sh
How the watts are read
  • 1.0.0
  • 2.2 MB
  • no sudo
  • free

What it shows

plottypus · cargo build --release
plottypus 1.0.0 on an M5 Pro during cargo build --release (process list filtered to rustc)

  1. 01 the whole Mac

    One terminal. CPU, GPU, power, heat, memory and processes, no sudo.

  2. 02 cpu

    Super and Performance clusters, each with its own clock.

    Expand the panel for every core.

  3. 03 power

    System, CPU and battery. CPU watts live on the M5 Pro.

    Live from the SMC rails on the M5 Pro. Other chips hold the last IOReport value, then show —.

  4. 04 processes

    Memory footprint and per-core CPU %. A dash when the kernel says no.

    Type / and a name to filter.

CPU
20W
System
67W
Hottest
95°C
Fans
1899·2047rpm
—
the kernel withheld it
≈
last published value, and its age. Dropped after 10 s.

How the watts are read

M5 Pro, macOS 27 (Golden Gate). Recorded, 500 ms per frame.

What else

And the rest of the Mac.

  • Processes

    Footprint, per-core %, a tree, and pid-safe signals.

  • Heat

    Zone temperatures and fan rpm. Fanless Airs show no fans.

  • Memory

    What fills it, and how much went to swap.

  • Network and disk

    Mirrored graphs: in above the axis, out below.

  • Keys you know

    htop and btop key profiles. The mouse works too.

  • $ plottypus --diagnose
Busy: rustc plottypus using 4.8 cores
$ plottypus doctor | grep chip
chip  Apple M5 Pro

    Scripting

    --json, --diagnose and doctor, for scripts and bug reports.

Everything it reads

Themes

Looks like your terminal.

Reads your palette over OSC 10, 11 and 4. Glass for translucent Ghostty, kitty and Alacritty.

Theme
plottypus --theme catppuccin-mochaplottypus --theme gruvbox-darkplottypus --theme monotremeplottypus --theme autoplottypus --theme okabeplottypus --theme paperplottypus · glass on160×45
plottypus in the catppuccin-mocha theme.plottypus in the gruvbox-dark theme.plottypus in the monotreme theme: grey everywhere except alarms.plottypus in its auto theme, built from the Kanagawa Dragon terminal palette.plottypus in the okabe theme with Okabe–Ito hues.plottypus in the paper theme on a light cream background.plottypus in glass mode in a translucent Ghostty window, over a dim room and a window.

Matches the scheme of the same name.Matches the scheme of the same name.One grey ink. Only alarms carry colour.Built from the terminal's own palette. Here, Kanagawa Dragon.Okabe–Ito hues, readable with red–green colour blindness.For light terminals.Ghostty at 75% opacity. No cell backgrounds, so the wallpaper shows through.10 built in. T cycles them.

cost of watching

Cheap to leave open.

  • cpu1.5%of one core at the default 500 ms
  • redraws0/swhile nothing changes on screen
  • energy<0.01Wits own draw, on an idle Mac
  • binary2.2MBone file, nothing else installed

Median of 3 runs at 160×45, M5 Pro (Mac17,8), macOS 27.0, on AC power, no sudo. Method and raw data

Free now. Pro later.

Free. Every live reading stays free. What Pro will add

One line. No sudo.

install · 1.0.0
curl -fsSL https://plottypus.com/install.sh | shplottypus