gtop — System Monitoring Dashboard for the Terminal

Introduction

gtop is a terminal system monitoring tool that renders CPU, memory, disk, network, and process data in a colorful dashboard. It provides a quick visual overview of system health without leaving the terminal.

What gtop Does

• Displays real-time CPU usage per core with color-coded bar charts
• Shows memory and swap usage with visual progress indicators
• Lists running processes sorted by CPU or memory consumption
• Monitors network throughput for upload and download
• Renders disk usage across mounted volumes

Architecture Overview

gtop is built on Node.js using the blessed and blessed-contrib libraries for terminal rendering. It polls system metrics through OS-level APIs exposed by Node.js and third-party modules. The dashboard layout is a fixed grid of widgets that update on a configurable refresh interval.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Install globally with npm install -g gtop (requires Node.js)
• Also available via Snap: snap install gtop
• No configuration file needed; runs with sensible defaults
• Quit with q or Ctrl+C
• Supports terminal resizing for responsive layout adjustments

Key Features

• Visually rich dashboard with charts, sparklines, and progress bars
• Per-core CPU utilization with color gradients
• Process table with sortable columns
• Minimal resource footprint despite the rich display
• Cross-platform support for Linux, macOS, and Windows

Comparison with Similar Tools

• htop — interactive process viewer; gtop adds network and disk widgets in a dashboard layout
• btop — feature-rich C++ monitor; gtop is simpler to install via npm with no compilation
• Glances — Python-based with extensive plugins; gtop is lighter and more visual
• bottom — Rust-based TUI monitor; gtop trades configurability for zero-config simplicity
• top — basic built-in utility; gtop adds color, charts, and a modern layout

FAQ

Q: Does gtop require root access? A: No. It reads system metrics available to the current user.

Q: Can I customize the refresh interval? A: The default interval is built in. For adjustable intervals, check the source or use alternatives like btop.

Q: Does it work over SSH? A: Yes. It runs in any terminal that supports 256 colors and Unicode.

Q: How much memory does gtop use? A: Typically under 50 MB, as it is a lightweight Node.js application.

Sources

• https://github.com/aksakalli/gtop