Port Killer — Cross-Platform Port Management Tool for Developers

Introduction

Port Killer is a cross-platform desktop application for managing network ports during development. It provides a visual interface to see which processes are using which ports, quickly free up occupied ports, manage Kubernetes port forwards, and integrate with Cloudflare Tunnels — tasks developers typically handle through scattered terminal commands.

What Port Killer Does

• Lists all active network ports with their associated processes
• Kills processes occupying specific ports with a single click
• Manages Kubernetes port-forward sessions from a unified dashboard
• Integrates Cloudflare Tunnel management for exposing local services
• Runs as a lightweight menu bar app on macOS and system tray on Windows

Architecture Overview

Port Killer is built with Swift and SwiftUI on macOS (with Windows support via a separate build). It queries the operating system's network stack to enumerate active ports and their owning processes. The Kubernetes integration communicates with kubectl to manage port-forward sessions, and the Cloudflare integration uses the cloudflared CLI for tunnel management. The app runs as a menu bar/system tray utility with minimal resource usage.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Install via Homebrew on macOS or download binaries from GitHub Releases
• No server component or account required — runs entirely locally
• Optionally configure kubectl path for Kubernetes port-forward management
• Optionally configure cloudflared path for Cloudflare Tunnel integration
• Set preferred ports to monitor or pin commonly used port groups

Key Features

• Real-time port monitoring with process identification
• One-click process termination for freeing occupied ports
• Kubernetes port-forward lifecycle management
• Cloudflare Tunnel integration for secure local service exposure
• Lightweight menu bar/system tray presence with minimal resource use

Comparison with Similar Tools

• lsof/netstat — CLI tools that show port usage but require manual process killing
• kill/pkill — command-line process terminators without port-centric workflows
• kubectl port-forward — CLI-only Kubernetes forwarding without lifecycle management
• Portmaster — network firewall focused on blocking, not developer port management
• Gas Mask — hosts file manager, different scope from port management

FAQ

Q: Which operating systems are supported? A: macOS and Windows are supported. The macOS version runs as a native SwiftUI menu bar app.

Q: Does it require root or administrator privileges? A: Killing some system-level processes may require elevated permissions, but monitoring ports works without them.

Q: Can it manage Docker container ports? A: It shows all ports bound on the host, including those mapped by Docker containers. You can kill the Docker process from the app if needed.

Q: Does Kubernetes integration require any special setup? A: You need kubectl configured with access to your cluster. Port Killer discovers active port-forward sessions and lets you manage them visually.

Sources

• https://github.com/productdevbook/port-killer
• https://github.com/productdevbook/port-killer#readme