The Problem: What Is Your CPU Actually Running?

Your computer slows down, fans spin up, battery drains fast — but you do not know why:

  • Which process is consuming 90% CPU?
  • What app is leaking memory?
  • Which service is hammering the disk?
  • What is using all the network bandwidth?

Default system monitors are too basic. top and Task Manager show numbers but lack context.

What Is Witr?

Witr is a modern process monitor and system resource tool that shows real-time CPU, memory, disk, and network usage in an intuitive, visual interface. It is a lightweight alternative to htop, top, and glances.

Key Features

1. Real-Time Process Monitoring

  • CPU usage — Per-process and total system load
  • Memory consumption — RSS, VSS, swap usage
  • Disk I/O — Read/write rates per process
  • Network traffic — Send/receive rates
  • Process tree — Parent-child relationships

2. Resource Usage Alerts

  • CPU threshold — Alert when any process exceeds X%
  • Memory limit — Warn when RAM usage is high
  • Disk space — Notify when partitions fill up
  • Network spike — Detect unusual traffic patterns
  • Custom rules — Define your own alert conditions

3. Historical Data

  • Trend graphs — CPU and memory over time
  • Peak detection — Find when resources spiked
  • Baseline analysis — Understand normal usage patterns
  • Export data — CSV or JSON for external analysis
  • Log integration — Correlate with system logs

4. Intuitive Interface

  • Color coding — Green/yellow/red for usage levels
  • Sortable columns — Click to sort by any metric
  • Search and filter — Find processes by name or PID
  • Keyboard shortcuts — Navigate without mouse
  • Minimal CPU overhead — Less than 1% CPU usage

How to Use Witr

Installation

 1# macOS
 2brew install witr
 3
 4# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
 5sudo apt install witr
 6
 7# Linux (Fedora)
 8sudo dnf install witr
 9
10# From source
11git clone https://github.com/witr/witr.git
12cd witr && cargo install --path .

Basic Usage

 1# Start Witr
 2witr
 3
 4# Show only CPU and memory
 5witr --fields cpu,memory
 6
 7# Monitor specific process
 8witr --filter python
 9
10# Export to CSV
11witr --export output.csv --duration 60
12
13# Set alert threshold
14witr --alert-cpu 80 --alert-memory 90

Keyboard Shortcuts

KeyAction
qQuit
SpacePause/resume
kKill selected process
fFilter processes
sSort by column
tToggle tree view
hShow help

Comparison with Alternatives

FeatureWitrhtoptopGlances
CPU UsageYesYesYesYes
MemoryYesYesYesYes
Disk I/OYesYesNoYes
NetworkYesNoNoYes
Process TreeYesYesNoNo
AlertsBuilt-inNoNoLimited
HistoryYesNoNoYes
ExportCSV/JSONNoNoCSV
Web UINoNoNoYes
CPU Overhead<1%<1%<1%2-3%

Use Cases

Developers

  • Find runaway test processes
  • Monitor build resource usage
  • Debug memory leaks
  • Optimize application performance

System Administrators

  • Monitor server health
  • Detect resource hogs
  • Plan capacity upgrades
  • Troubleshoot performance issues

DevOps Engineers

  • Monitor container resource usage
  • Set up alerting rules
  • Analyze baseline performance
  • Generate resource reports

Power Users

  • Understand system behavior
  • Optimize battery life
  • Find background processes
  • Manage startup items

Advanced Features

Custom Metrics

Add your own metrics:

1{
2  "metrics": [
3    {
4      "name": "gpu_usage",
5      "command": "nvidia-smi --query-gpu=utilization.gpu --format=csv,noheader",
6      "interval": 5
7    }
8  ]
9}

Integration

  • Prometheus — Export metrics for monitoring
  • Grafana — Visualize in dashboards
  • Slack — Send alerts to channels
  • PagerDuty — Trigger incident response
  • Webhooks — Custom notification endpoints

Plugin System

Write plugins in any language:

1# witr_plugin.py
2import psutil
3
4def get_custom_metric():
5    return {
6        "name": "battery_level",
7        "value": psutil.sensors_battery().percent
8    }

Performance

Witr is designed for minimal overhead:

  • Rust implementation — Zero-cost abstractions
  • Async I/O — Non-blocking data collection
  • Efficient rendering — Only redraw changed cells
  • Low memory — Under 10MB RAM usage
  • Fast startup — Sub-second initialization

Platform Support

PlatformStatusNotes
LinuxFullAll features supported
macOSFullAll features supported
WindowsPartialNo process tree
FreeBSDBetaCommunity maintained

Conclusion

Witr is the modern process monitor for developers and system administrators.

  • Real-time CPU, memory, disk, and network monitoring
  • Built-in alerting and historical data
  • Intuitive interface with minimal overhead
  • Extensible with custom metrics and plugins
  • Cross-platform support

If top and htop feel too basic, upgrade to Witr.

GitHub: github.com/witr/witr
License: MIT | Stars: 3K+ | Language: Rust