pstop — Process Explorer

Show top resource-consuming processes:

!pstop top 2>&1 || echo "pstop not installed — brew install lu-zhengda/tap/pstop"

Analyze the output above. Flag any processes consuming excessive CPU (>50%) or memory (>1 GB). Identify what each process is and whether it looks normal. Offer to get more details with pstop info <pid> or kill with pstop kill <pid>.

Commands

Command	Purpose	Example
pstop list	List all running processes	pstop list --sort cpu
pstop list --user <name>	Filter by user	pstop list --user root
pstop top	Show top N processes by CPU	pstop top -n 20
pstop top --battery	Highlight battery-draining processes	pstop top --battery
pstop top --format spark	Show CPU/mem sparkline trends	pstop top --format spark
pstop find <query>	Search processes by name or command	pstop find node
pstop info <pid>	Detailed process info (files, ports, children)	pstop info 1234
pstop kill <pid>	Kill process (SIGTERM)	pstop kill 1234
pstop kill <pid> --force	Force kill (SIGKILL)	pstop kill 1234 --force
pstop tree	Display process tree	pstop tree
pstop dev	Group processes by dev stack (Node, Python, Docker, etc.)	pstop dev
pstop watch <pid>	Live-monitor a process	pstop watch 1234 --interval 5
pstop watch --alert	Threshold-based alerting	pstop watch --alert --cpu 80 --mem 90
pstop crashes	Recent crash reports and app hangs	pstop crashes --last 7d
pstop crashes info <path>	Detailed crash report with backtrace	pstop crashes info /path/to/report.ips

Crash Reports

View recent crash reports, app hangs, and kernel panics:

# Show recent crash reports
pstop crashes

# Filter by time range
pstop crashes --last 7d

# Filter by process name
pstop crashes --process Safari

# Combine filters
pstop crashes --last 24h --process node

# View detailed crash report with backtrace
pstop crashes info /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Safari_2026-02-15.ips

# JSON output for scripting
pstop crashes --json

Threshold Alerting

Monitor processes and alert when thresholds are exceeded:

# Alert when any process exceeds 80% CPU or 90% memory
pstop watch --alert --cpu 80 --mem 90

# Exit code 1 when thresholds exceeded — useful in scripts and lanchr agents
pstop watch --alert --cpu 95 --mem 95

Combine with lanchr create --template monitor-cpu to set up persistent alerting.

Sparkline Format

View inline CPU/memory trend history:

pstop top --format spark

Renders compact sparkline graphs alongside each process, showing resource usage over time.

Sort Options

Use --sort with list to sort by: cpu, mem, pid, name (default: cpu).

Safety Guidelines

• Always info before kill: Check what a process does before terminating
• Prefer SIGTERM (default): Allows graceful shutdown. Only use --force as last resort
• Use find for discovery: Safer than guessing PIDs

TUI Mode

Launch pstop without arguments for an interactive process dashboard.