ktop

A terminal-based system resource monitor built for tracking resource usage when running hybrid LLM workloads.

Features

Latest

• Rewritten from Python to Rust — single static binary, near-zero CPU overhead, instant startup
• One-line install and upgrade: curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brontoguana/ktop/master/install.sh | bash
• No runtime dependencies — no Python, no pip, no venv

Core

• GPU Monitoring — Per-GPU utilization and memory usage with color-coded sparkline history (NVIDIA + AMD)
• Network Monitoring — Upload/download speeds with separate colored sparklines (upload extends up, download extends down)
• CPU Monitoring — Overall CPU usage with gradient bar chart and sparkline history
• Memory Monitoring — RAM and swap usage with gradient progress bars
• Temperature Strip — CPU, memory, and per-GPU temps with mini bar charts and hardware-accurate thresholds
• OOM Kill Tracker — Status bar shows the most recent OOM kill from the last 8 hours (kernel OOM and systemd-oomd)
• Process Tables — Top 10 processes by memory (Used/Shared) and CPU usage (Core % + system-wide CPU %)
• 50 Color Themes — Press t to browse and switch themes with live preview; persists across sessions
• Color Mode Toggle — Press c to switch between truecolor and safe Basic color output; persists across sessions
• Gradient Bar Charts — Smooth per-block color gradients from low to high across all bars
• Responsive UI — 50ms input polling for snappy keyboard navigation

Install

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brontoguana/ktop/master/install.sh | bash

Downloads the latest binary and installs it to /usr/local/bin (will prompt for sudo if needed). Run the same command again to upgrade.

Installed versions can also update themselves:

ktop update

To remove only the installed ktop executable and leave user config untouched:

ktop uninstall

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/brontoguana/ktop.git
cd ktop/ktop-rs
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/ktop /usr/local/bin/

Usage

# Run with defaults (1s refresh)
ktop

# Custom refresh rate
ktop -r 2

# Start with a specific theme
ktop --theme "Tokyo Night"

# Simulation mode (fake OOM kills, profiling to /tmp/ktop_profile.log)
ktop --sim

# Remote terminal fallback if the display flashes
ktop --compat

# Report terminal size and resize behavior
ktop diagnose-terminal

# Isolate which terminal repaint behavior flashes
ktop diagnose-render --case full-paint

# Show version
ktop --version

# Update or remove ktop
ktop update
ktop uninstall

Keybindings

Key	Action
q / ESC	Quit
t	Open theme picker
c	Toggle color mode between truecolor and safe Basic color output
Arrow keys	Navigate theme picker
Enter	Select theme

Remote Terminal Compatibility

If a web or remote-support terminal flashes while repainting, try:

ktop --compat

Compatibility mode disables alternate screen and synchronized redraws, slows the default refresh to 2s, and uses lower-churn rendering by suppressing moving sparklines and refreshing process tables less often. It also uses coarse progress bars instead of per-cell gradients, avoids dark-gray ANSI styling and shaded filler glyphs, and clears the current screen on entry/exit so stale styled cells do not remain behind the shell prompt.

You can also set KTOP_COMPAT=1.

If a terminal flashes on extended color output, press c in the main view to switch Color from Truecolor to Basic. Basic mode avoids RGB and indexed foreground color escapes and is saved in ~/.config/ktop/config.json.

To check whether a terminal is reporting unstable sizes or repeated resize events:

ktop diagnose-terminal --duration 8

If the size report is stable but ktop still flashes, isolate the repaint trigger:

ktop diagnose-render --case plain --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case cursor --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case color --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case rgb --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case unicode --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case full-paint --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case clear --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case alternate --duration 4
ktop diagnose-render --case sync --duration 4

Report which cases visibly flash. Each case exits by itself.

If a command unexpectedly starts the monitor, check ktop --version; terminal diagnostics and compatibility mode require ktop 1.0.10 or newer.

Requirements

• Linux (reads /proc and sysfs directly)
• NVIDIA GPU + drivers (optional — for NVIDIA monitoring)
• AMD GPU + amdgpu driver (optional — for AMD monitoring)
• No runtime dependencies — single static binary

License

MIT