SkillsApr 13, 2026·3 min read

bottom — Beautiful Cross-Platform System Monitor in Rust

bottom (btm) is a customizable, cross-platform graphical system monitor for the terminal. It displays CPU, memory, network, disk, temperature, and process information with interactive charts — a modern alternative to top, htop, and btop.

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step-1.md
Direct install command
npx -y tokrepo@latest install 82758995-3745-11f1-9bc6-00163e2b0d79 --target codex

Run after dry-run confirms the install plan.

TL;DR
bottom replaces top/htop with interactive terminal charts for CPU, memory, network, disk, and processes across Linux, macOS, and Windows.
§01

What it is

bottom (btm) is a terminal-based system monitor written in Rust using Ratatui. It displays real-time CPU, memory, network, disk, temperature, and process information through interactive charts. It works on Linux, macOS, and Windows.

The tool targets developers and system administrators who want a visually rich alternative to top, htop, or btop without leaving the terminal. It supports TOML-based configuration for customizing layouts, colors, and widget placement.

§02

How it saves time or tokens

bottom consolidates the output of multiple monitoring tools into a single dashboard. Instead of switching between top for processes, iotop for disk, and nethogs for network, one command gives you everything. The interactive UI lets you filter, sort, and drill into specific metrics without piping output through grep or awk.

Installation is a single command on every major platform, and the binary is self-contained with no runtime dependencies.

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How to use

  1. Install bottom via your package manager: brew install bottom, cargo install bottom, or sudo apt install bottom.
  2. Run btm to launch the interactive dashboard with default layout.
  3. Customize the display with flags like --rate 500 for faster refresh, --basic for minimal mode, or --default_widget_type proc to focus on processes.
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Example

# Install and run
brew install bottom
btm

# Custom refresh rate and minimal mode
btm --rate 500 --basic

# Focus on process view
btm --default_widget_type proc

# Use a custom config
btm -C ~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml
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Related on TokRepo

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Common pitfalls

  • On Debian-based systems the binary is named btm, but the package is bottom. Running apt install bottom installs the correct package.
  • The default layout shows all widgets. If your terminal window is small, widgets overlap. Use --basic or a custom TOML layout to reduce widget count.
  • Temperature sensors require lm-sensors on Linux. Without it, the temperature widget shows no data.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does bottom compare to htop?+

bottom provides network, disk, and temperature charts alongside processes, while htop focuses primarily on process management. bottom also supports Windows and macOS natively, whereas htop is Linux and macOS only. The tradeoff is that htop offers deeper process control like sending signals directly.

Can I customize the bottom layout?+

Yes. bottom reads a TOML configuration file (default at ~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml) where you define which widgets appear, their arrangement, colors, and default sort columns. You can also set per-widget refresh rates and filtering defaults.

Does bottom work on Windows?+

Yes. bottom supports Windows, Linux, and macOS. On Windows it uses native APIs for process and system information. Install via scoop, chocolatey, or download the binary from the GitHub releases page.

What is the resource footprint of bottom itself?+

bottom is compiled to a single static binary with no runtime dependencies. Memory usage is typically under 20 MB. CPU usage depends on the refresh rate but stays minimal at the default 1-second interval.

Can bottom export data for scripting?+

bottom is primarily an interactive TUI tool. For scripted data collection, you would pair it with tools like sar, vmstat, or prometheus node_exporter. bottom is designed for real-time visual monitoring, not batch data export.

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