bottom

A cross-platform graphical process/system monitor with a customizable interface and a multitude of features. Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows. Inspired by both gtop and gotop.

Theme based on gruvbox (see sample config). Recorded on version 0.4.0.

Note: This documentation is relevant to version 0.5.0 and may refer to in-development or unreleased features, especially if you are reading this on the master branch. Please refer to release branch or crates.io for the most up-to-date release documentation.

Table of Contents

• Installation
  • Manual
  • Cargo
  • AUR
  • Debian (and Debian-based)
  • Homebrew
  • Scoop
  • Chocolatey
• Usage
  • Flags
  • Options
• Keybindings
  • General
  • CPU bindings
  • Process bindings
  • Process search bindings
  • Battery bindings
  • Process searching keywords
    • Supported keywords
    • Supported comparison operators
    • Supported logical operators
    • Supported units
• Features
  • Process searching
  • Zoom
  • Expanding
  • Basic mode
  • Config files
    • Config flags
    • Theming
    • Layout
  • Battery
  • Compatibility
• Contribution
  • Contributors
• Thanks

Installation

Note that binaries are built on the stable version of Rust, and I mainly test and release for 64-bit. As such, support beyond these is not guaranteed.

Manual

There are a few ways to go about doing this. Note that the MSRV is 1.40.0. For example:

# If required, update Rust on the stable channel
rustup update stable

# Clone and install the newest master version all via Cargo
cargo install --git https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom

# Clone from master and install manually
git clone https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom
cd bottom
cargo install --path .

# Download from releases and install
curl -LO https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom/releases/download/0.4.1/bottom_source_code.tar.gz
tar -xzvf bottom_source_code.tar.gz
cargo install --path .

Cargo

cargo install bottom

AUR

yay bottom

# If you instead want a pre-built binary:
yay bottom-bin

Debian

A .deb file is provided on each release:

curl -LO https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom/releases/download/0.4.1/bottom_0.4.1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i bottom_0.4.1_amd64.deb

Homebrew

brew tap clementtsang/bottom
brew install bottom

# If you need to be more specific, use:
brew install clementtsang/bottom/bottom

Scoop

scoop install bottom

Chocolatey

Choco package located here.

choco install bottom

# Version number may be required for newer releases, if available:
choco install bottom --version=0.4.1

Usage

Run using btm.

Flags

-h, --help                          Prints help information, including flags and options
-a, --avg_cpu                       Shows the average CPU usage in addition to per-core
-m, --dot-marker                    Uses a dot marker instead of the default braille marker
-c, --celsius                       Displays the temperature type in Celsius [default]
-f, --fahrenheit                    Displays the temperature type in Fahrenheit
-k, --kelvin                        Displays the temperature type in Kelvin
-l, --left_legend                   Displays the CPU legend to the left rather than the right
-u, --current_usage                 Sets process CPU usage to be based on current total CPU usage
-g, --group                         Groups together processes with the same name by default
-S, --case_sensitive                Search defaults to matching cases
-W, --whole                         Search defaults to searching for the whole word
-R, --regex                         Search defaults to using regex
-s, --show_disabled_data            Shows disabled CPU entries in the CPU legend
-b, --basic                         Enables basic mode, removing charts and condensing data
    --autohide_time                 Automatically hide the time scaling in graphs after being shown for a brief moment when
                                    zoomed in/out.  If time is disabled via --hide_time then this will have no effect
    --use_old_network_legend        Use the older (pre-0.4) network legend which is separate from the network chart
    --hide_table_gap                Hides the spacing between table headers and data
    --battery                       Displays the battery widget for default and basic layouts

Options

-r, --rate <MS>                     Set the refresh rate in milliseconds [default: 1000]
-C, --config <PATH>                 Use the specified config file; if it does not exist it is automatically created [default: see section on config files]
-t, --default_time_value <MS>       Sets the default time interval for charts in milliseconds [default: 60000]
-d, --time_delta <MS>               Sets the default amount each zoom in/out action changes by in milliseconds [default: 15000]
    --default_widget_count <COUNT>  Which number of the selected widget type to select, from left to right, top to bottom [default: 1]
    --default_widget_type <TYPE>    The default widget type to select by default [default: "process"]

Keybindings

General

q, Ctrl-c	Quit
Esc	Close dialog windows, search, widgets, or exit expanded mode
Ctrl-r	Reset display and any collected data
f	Freeze/unfreeze updating with new data
Ctrl-arrow key Shift-arrow key H/J/K/L	Move to a different widget (on macOS some keybindings may conflict)
Left, h	Move left within widget
Down, j	Move down within widget
Up,k	Move up within widget
Right, l	Move right within widget
?	Open help menu
gg, Home	Jump to the first entry
Shift-g, End	Jump to the last entry
e	Expand the currently selected widget
+	Zoom in on chart (decrease time range)
-	Zoom out on chart (increase time range)
=	Reset zoom
Mouse scroll	Table: Scroll Chart: Zooms in or out by scrolling up or down respectively

CPU bindings

/	Open filtering for showing certain CPU cores
Space	Toggle enabled/disabled cores
Esc	Exit filtering mode

Process bindings

dd	Kill the selected process
c	Sort by CPU usage, press again to reverse sorting order
m	Sort by memory usage, press again to reverse sorting order
p	Sort by PID name, press again to reverse sorting order
n	Sort by process name, press again to reverse sorting order
Tab	Group/un-group processes with the same name
Ctrl-f, /	Open process search widget

Process search bindings

Tab	Toggle between searching by PID or name
Esc	Close the search widget (retains the filter)
Ctrl-a	Skip to the start of the search query
Ctrl-e	Skip to the end of the search query
Ctrl-u	Clear the current search query
Backspace	Delete the character behind the cursor
Delete	Delete the character at the cursor
Alt-c/F1	Toggle matching case
Alt-w/F2	Toggle matching the entire word
Alt-r/F3	Toggle using regex
Left	Move cursor left
Right	Move cursor right

Battery bindings

Left, Alt-h	Go to the next battery
Right, Alt-l	Go to the previous battery

Process searching keywords

• Note none of the keywords are case sensitive.
• Use brackets to logically group together parts of the search.
• Furthermore, if you want to search a reserved keyword, surround the text in quotes - for example, "or" or "(sd-pam)" would be a valid search:

Supported keywords

Keywords	Example	Description
pid	pid: 1044	Matches by PID; supports regex and requiring matching the entire PID
cpu	cpu > 0.5	Matches the condition for the CPU column; supports comparison operators
mem	mem < 0.5	Matches the condition for the memory column; supports comparison operators
read	read = 1	Matches the condition for the read/s column; supports comparison operators
write	write >= 1	Matches the condition for the write/s column; supports comparison operators
tread	tread <= 1024	Matches the condition for the total read column; supports comparison operators
twrite	twrite > 1024	Matches the condition for the total write column; supports comparison operators

Supported comparison operators

Keywords	Description
=	Checks if the values are equal
>	Checks if the left value is strictly greater than the right
<	Checks if the left value is strictly less than the right
>=	Checks if the left value is greater than or equal to the right
<=	Checks if the left value is less than or equal to the right

Supported logical operators

Note that the and operator takes precedence over the or operator.

Keywords	Usage	Description
and, &&, <Space>	<CONDITION 1> and/&&/<Space> <CONDITION 2>	Requires both conditions to be true to match
or, ||	<CONDITION 1> or/|| <CONDITION 2>	Requires at least one condition to be true to match

Supported units

Keywords	Description
B	Bytes
KB	Kilobytes
MB	Megabytes
GB	Gigabytes
TB	Terabytes
KiB	Kibibytes
MiB	Mebibytes
GiB	Gibibytes
TiB	Tebibytes

Other syntax

Keywords	Usage	Description
()	(<CONDITION 1> AND <CONDITION 2>) OR <CONDITION 3>	Group together a condition

Features

As yet another process/system visualization and management application, bottom supports the typical features:

• CPU, memory, and network usage visualization

• Display information about disk capacity and I/O per second

• Display temperatures from sensors

• Display information regarding processes, like CPU, memory, and I/O usage

• Process management (process killing is all you need, right?)

It also aims to be:

• Lightweight

• Cross-platform - supports Linux, Windows, and macOS

In addition, bottom also currently has the following features:

Process searching

On any process widget, hit / to bring up a search bar. If the layout has multiple process widgets, note this search is independent of other widgets.

By default, just typing in something will search by process name:

This simple search can be refined by matching by case, matching the entire word, or by using regex:

Now let's say you want to search for two things - luckily, we have the AND and OR logical operators:

Furthermore, one is able to refine their searches by CPU usage, memory usage, PID, and more. For example:

One can see all available keywords and query options here.

Zoom

Using the +/- keys or the scroll wheel will move the current time intervals of the currently selected widget, and = to reset the zoom levels to the default. Widgets can hold different time intervals independently. These time intervals can be adjusted using the -t/--default_time_value and -d/--time_delta options, or their corresponding config options.

Expand

Only care about one specific widget? You can go to that widget and hit e to make that widget expand and take up the entire drawing area.

Basic mode

Using the -b or --basic_mode (or their corresponding config options) will open bottom in basic mode. There are no charts or expanded mode when using this, and tables are condensed such that only one table is displayed at a time.

Note custom layouts are currently not available when this is used.

Config files

bottom supports reading from a config file to customize its behaviour and look. By default, bottom will look at ~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml or C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\bottom\bottom.toml on Unix and Windows systems respectively.

Note that if a config file does not exist at either the default location or the passed in location via -C or --config, one is automatically created with no settings applied.

Config flags

The following options can be set under [flags] to achieve the same effect as passing in a flag on runtime. Note that if a flag is given, it will override the config file.

These are the following supported flag config values:

Field	Type
avg_cpu	Boolean
dot_marker	Boolean
left_legend	Boolean
current_usage	Boolean
group_processes	Boolean
case_sensitive	Boolean
whole_word	Boolean
regex	Boolean
show_disabled_data	Boolean
basic	Boolean
hide_table_count	Boolean
use_old_network_legend	Boolean
rate	Unsigned Int (represents milliseconds)
default_time_value	Unsigned Int (represents milliseconds)
time_delta	Unsigned Int (represents milliseconds)
temperature_type	String (one of ["k", "f", "c", "kelvin", "fahrenheit", "celsius"])
default_widget_type	String (one of ["cpu", "proc", "net", "temp", "mem", "disk"], same as layout options)
default_widget_count	Unsigned Int (represents which default_widget_type)

Theming

The config file can be used to set custom colours for parts of the application under the [colors] object. The following labels are customizable with strings that are hex colours, RGB colours, or specific named colours.

Supported named colours are one of the following strings: Reset, Black, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Magenta, Cyan, Gray, DarkGray, LightRed, LightGreen, LightYellow, LightBlue, LightMagenta, LightCyan, White.

Labels	Details	Example
Table header colours	Colour of table headers	table_header_color="255, 255, 255"
CPU colour per core	Colour of each core. Read in order.	cpu_core_colors=["#ffffff", "white", "255, 255, 255"]
Average CPU colour	The average CPU color	avg_cpu_color="White"
RAM	The colour RAM will use	ram_color="#ffffff"
SWAP	The colour SWAP will use	swap_color="#ffffff"
RX	The colour rx will use	rx_color="#ffffff"
TX	The colour tx will use	tx_color="#ffffff"
Widget title colour	The colour of the label each widget has	widget_title_color="#ffffff"
Border colour	The colour of the border of unselected widgets	border_color="#ffffff"
Selected border colour	The colour of the border of selected widgets	highlighted_border_color="#ffffff"
Text colour	The colour of most text	text_color="#ffffff"
Graph colour	The colour of the lines and text of the graph	graph_color="#ffffff"
Cursor colour	The cursor's colour	cursor_color="#ffffff"
Selected text colour	The colour of text that is selected	scroll_entry_text_color="#ffffff"
Selected text background colour	The background colour of text that is selected	scroll_entry_bg_color="#ffffff"
Battery bar colours	Colour used is based on percentage and no. of colours	battery_colours=["green", "yellow", "red"]

Layout

bottom supports customizable layouts via the config file. Currently, layouts are controlled by using TOML objects and arrays.

For example, given the sample layout:

[[row]]
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
[[row]]
    ratio=2
    [[row.child]]
      ratio=4
      type="mem"
    [[row.child]]
      ratio=3
      [[row.child.child]]
        type="temp"
      [[row.child.child]]
        type="disk"

This would give a layout that has two rows, with a 1:2 ratio. The first row has only the CPU widget. The second row is split into two columns with a 4:3 ratio. The first column contains the memory widget. The second column is split into two rows with a 1:1 ratio. The first is the temperature widget, the second is the disk widget.

This is what the layout would look like when run:

Each [[row]] represents a row in the layout. A row can have any number of child values. Each [[row.child]] represents either a column or a widget. A column can have any number of child values as well. Each [[row.child.child]] represents a widget. A widget is represented by having a type field set to a string.

The following type values are supported:

"cpu"	CPU chart and legend
"mem", "memory"	Memory chart
"net", "network"	Network chart and legend
"proc", "process", "processes"	Process table and search
"temp", "temperature"	Temperature table
"disk"	Disk table
"empty"	An empty space
"batt", "battery"	Battery statistics

Each component of the layout accepts a ratio value. If this is not set, it defaults to 1.

For an example, look at the default config, which contains the default layout.

And if your heart desires, you can have duplicate widgets. This means you could do something like:

[[row]]
  ratio=1
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
[[row]]
  ratio=1
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
  [[row.child]]
  type="empty"
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
[[row]]
  ratio=1
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"
  [[row.child]]
  type="cpu"

and get the following CPU donut:

Battery

You can get battery statistics (charge, time to fill/discharge, consumption in watts, and battery health) via the battery widget.

Since this is only useful for devices like laptops, it is off by default. You can either enable the widget in the default layout via the --battery flag, or by specifying the widget in a layout:

Compatibility

The current compatibility of widgets with operating systems from personal testing:

OS	CPU	Memory	Disks	Temperature	Processes/Search	Networks	Battery
Linux	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Windows	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓	✓ (seems to have issues with dual batteries)
macOS	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Contribution

Contribution is always welcome! Please take a look at CONTRIBUTING.md for details on how to help.

Contributors

Thanks to all contributors (emoji key):

Marcin Wojnarowski 💻 📦

Mahmoud Al-Qudsi 💻

Andy 💻

Kim Brose 💻

Thanks

• This project is very much inspired by both gotop and gtop.

• Basic mode is heavily inspired by htop's design.

• This application was written with many, many libraries, and built on the work of many talented people. This application would be impossible without their work.

• And of course, thanks to all contributors!