peek

The Process Intelligence Tool for Linux

One CLI to replace ps + lsof + ss + /proc.
Inspect any process by PID or name: what it is, what it’s doing, how it uses resources, and what it’s connected to.

Install · Quick start · Documentation

Screenshots

Overview	Identity & resources	Live TUI (`--watch`)

Export (MD / HTML / PDF)	Signal / kill panel

Questions or ideas? Use GitHub Discussions so the issue tracker stays focused on bugs and features.

Why peek?

A single, focused tool for deeply understanding one process at a time — with explanations of kernel state, OOM risk, capabilities, network, files, and environment.
Instead of juggling ps, lsof, ss, /proc, and ad‑hoc scripts, you get one consistent CLI and TUI, plus exportable reports for debugging and sharing.

Comparison with other tools

	peek	htop	glances	top	procs
Focus	Single-process deep dive	System-wide process list	System-wide dashboard	Process list	System-wide process list
Language	Rust	C	Python	C	Rust
Output	One process: identity, resources, network, files, env, kernel, tree	Scrolling list, per-process stats	Multi-panel TUI, plugins	List + header	Rich process list with tree view
Network per process	Listening TCP/UDP/Unix, connections, traffic rate, optional reverse DNS	No	Per-interface only	No	No
Open files / env	Yes, with secret redaction	No	No	No	No
Kill / signals	Yes, with impact analysis and systemd awareness	Yes (basic)	Limited	Yes (basic)	Yes (basic)
Export	JSON, Markdown, HTML, PDF	No	CSV/JSON/APIs	No	No
Daemon / history	Yes (`peekd`) — ring buffer, alerts, IPC	No	Client/server, Web UI	No	No
Single binary	Yes, static build	No (ncurses)	No (Python + deps)	No	Yes

When to use peek: You have a PID or process name and want one place to understand it (what binary, state, OOM risk, open sockets, env, files) and optionally act on it (signals, export report). For system-wide process lists, use htop or top; for a rich system dashboard, use glances.

Summary

Area	What you get
Single process view	Identity, resources, network, open files, environment, kernel context, process tree.
Human-readable	Kernel state, scheduler, OOM score, capabilities, current syscall, and well-known binary descriptions (e.g. nginx, postgres, systemd).
Network	Listening TCP/UDP/Unix, established connections, traffic rate (RX/TX), optional reverse DNS.
Safe controls	Signal/kill panel with impact analysis; systemd unit detection and `systemctl` suggestions.
Scriptable	`--json` and `--json-snapshot` for automation; export to Markdown, HTML, PDF.
Optional daemon	`peekd` for history, alerting, and persistent monitoring over a Unix socket.

Quick start

# Inspect by PID or name
peek 1234
peek nginx

# Full picture (resources, kernel, network, files, env, tree)
peek nginx --all

# Live-updating TUI
peek nginx --all --watch

# Kill / signal panel (with impact analysis)
peek nginx --kill

# JSON for scripting
peek 1234 --json
peek 1234 --json-snapshot   # includes captured_at, peek_version, process

Example: `peek nginx` (trimmed)

🔍 PROCESS: nginx (PID 1234)
────────────────────────────────────────
  cmdline : nginx: worker process
  exe     : /usr/sbin/nginx
  state   : Running
  ppid    : 1
  uid:gid : 33:33
  started : 2026-03-03 12:34:56 (5m ago)
  memory  : 123456 KB RSS / 987654 KB VSZ
  threads : 12
  open fds: 128

📊 RESOURCES
────────────────────────────────────────
  CPU    [██████░░░░░░░░░░░░] 42.3%
  Memory [█████░░░░░░░░░░░░░] 120.5 MB RSS  (12.3% RAM)

🧠 KERNEL CONTEXT
────────────────────────────────────────
  Scheduler  : CFS (Normal time-sharing scheduler)
  OOM Score  : 320 / 1000  (Moderate kill likelihood)
  Cgroup     : /system.slice/nginx.service
  Seccomp    : filter active
  Namespaces : pid, net, mnt, uts, ipc

🌐 NETWORK
────────────────────────────────────────
  ▶ Listening (TCP): tcp 0.0.0.0:80, tcp [::]:80
  ▶ Connections (3): tcp 10.0.0.5:80 → 203.0.113.10:54321 [ESTABLISHED]

Usage

Basic inspection

peek <PID>              # by PID
peek <name>             # by process name (first match)
peek 1234 --all         # all sections: resources, kernel, network, files, env, tree, GPU

Sections (flags)

Flag	Description
`-r` / `--resources`	CPU, memory (RSS/PSS/swap), disk I/O, FD count
`-k` / `--kernel`	Scheduler, OOM score, cgroup, namespaces, seccomp, capabilities, current syscall
`-n` / `--network`	Listening TCP/UDP, Unix sockets, connections, traffic rate (1s sample)
`-f` / `--files`	Open file descriptors with type and path
`-e` / `--env`	Environment variables (secrets redacted)
`-t` / `--tree`	Process tree (ancestors and children)
`-a` / `--all`	All of the above

Live TUI and export

peek 1234 --all --watch [INTERVAL_MS]   # TUI with sparklines; default 2000 ms
peek 1234 --export md                   # Markdown
peek 1234 --export html                 # Standalone HTML
peek 1234 --export pdf                  # PDF (needs wkhtmltopdf, weasyprint, or Chromium)

Port search and kill panel

peek --port 443           # find processes using port 443 (TCP/UDP)
peek nginx --kill         # interactive signal/kill panel with impact analysis
peek nginx --kill --sudo  # re-exec with sudo for root-owned processes

History and alerts (requires `peekd`)

peekd &                   # start daemon (or use systemd unit)
peek 1234 --history       # show resource history for PID
peek --alert-list         # list alert rules
# Add/remove rules via CLI or config file (see docs/architecture.md)

See man peek (or peek --help) for all options.

Installation

One-line install (Linux, from GitHub Releases):

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ankittk/peek/main/install.sh | sudo bash

This installs peek and peekd to /usr/local/bin and can optionally install the systemd unit so sudo systemctl start peekd works. Set PEEK_INSTALL_DIR or PEEK_VERSION if needed. See packaging/ for systemd unit, .deb, .rpm, and AUR.

Prerequisites

From source: Rust toolchain (stable). Install from rustup.rs.
PDF export (optional): One of: wkhtmltopdf, weasyprint, or Chromium/Chrome.
MSRV: Rust 1.79+ (driven by ratatui and other dependencies).

GNU/Linux

Debian / Ubuntu

From GitHub Releases (.deb): Each release includes .deb packages (version 1.0, 1.1, etc.) for amd64 and arm64. Download peek_1.0_amd64.deb and peekd_1.0_amd64.deb (or _arm64.deb on ARM) from the Releases page, then:

# Install peek first (peekd depends on it), then peekd
sudo dpkg -i peek_*_amd64.deb peekd_*_amd64.deb
sudo systemctl daemon-reload && sudo systemctl start peekd   # optional

When packages are in a PPA or distro repos: sudo apt update && sudo apt install peek peekd.

From source:

sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev   # typical build deps
cargo build --release -p peek-process -p peekd
sudo cp target/release/peek target/release/peekd /usr/local/bin/

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS

From GitHub Releases (.rpm): Releases include .rpm packages for x86_64. Download the peek-process-*.rpm and peekd-*.rpm from the Releases page, then:

sudo rpm -ivh peek-process-*.rpm peekd-*.rpm
# or: sudo dnf install ./peek-process-*.rpm ./peekd-*.rpm
sudo systemctl start peekd   # optional

When RPM is in Fedora/EPEL: sudo dnf install peek peekd.

From source:

sudo dnf install gcc pkg-config openssl-devel
cargo build --release -p peek-process -p peekd
sudo cp target/release/peek target/release/peekd /usr/local/bin/

Arch Linux

# AUR (when published):
yay -S peek peekd
# or
paru -S peek peekd

From source or packaging/PKGBUILD:

sudo pacman -S base-devel
cargo build --release -p peek-process -p peekd
sudo cp target/release/peek target/release/peekd /usr/local/bin/

Other Linux (generic)

Download the static binary for your architecture from GitHub Releases and put peek and peekd in your PATH (e.g. ~/.local/bin or /usr/local/bin).

# Example for x86_64 Linux (musl static): set TAG e.g. TAG=v1.0.0 (release tag). Asset names use v1.0 for 1.0.x.
TAG=v1.0.0
VERSION_LABEL=v1.0
curl -sSL -o peek "https://github.com/ankittk/peek/releases/download/${TAG}/peek-${VERSION_LABEL}-x86_64-linux-musl"
curl -sSL -o peekd "https://github.com/ankittk/peek/releases/download/${TAG}/peekd-${VERSION_LABEL}-x86_64-linux-musl"
chmod +x peek peekd

macOS

# Homebrew (when formula is published)
brew install peek

From source:

brew install rust
git clone https://github.com/ankittk/peek.git && cd peek
cargo build --release -p peek-process
cp target/release/peek /usr/local/bin/

Note: macOS is preview only. You get basic process info (PID, name, memory, CPU, exe, state) and TUI/export. Kernel, network, open files, env, tree, and peekd require Linux.

Windows

From source only:

# Install Rust from https://rustup.rs, then:
git clone https://github.com/ankittk/peek.git && cd peek
cargo build --release -p peek-process
# Binary: target\release\peek.exe

Note: Windows is preview only. You get baseline process info and TUI/export. peekd is not supported; the daemon binary exits with a message.

Cargo (all platforms)

cargo install peek-process
# Optional (Linux/Unix only):
cargo install peekd

This installs peek (and optionally peekd) into ~/.cargo/bin. Ensure that directory is on your PATH.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/ankittk/peek.git
cd peek
cargo build --release --workspace

Release binaries: target/release/peek, target/release/peekd (Linux/Unix).
Static build (Linux): cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-musl (or aarch64-unknown-linux-musl for ARM). Release assets are named peek-v1.0-x86_64-linux-musl, peekd-v1.0-aarch64-linux-musl, etc. (version label is major.minor, e.g. v1.0 for 1.0.x).

Optional build-time features

No optional features are required for core behavior. GPU detection uses runtime checks (nvidia-smi, AMD sysfs).

Runtime dependencies

Dependency	When needed
None	Basic process info, TUI, JSON/MD/HTML export
wkhtmltopdf or weasyprint or Chromium	`--export pdf`
peekd (daemon)	`--history`, alert rules

Platform support

Linux is the primary target with full features. macOS and Windows are preview (best-effort) and only support a subset: PID, name, CPU, memory, exe, state, and the TUI/export shell. Kernel, network, open files, env, tree, and peekd are Linux-only. The table below is the source of truth.

Feature	Linux	macOS	Windows
Process identity, memory, CPU, exe	✅ Full	✅ Basic	✅ Basic
Kernel (cgroups, OOM, namespaces, seccomp, caps)	✅	—	—
Network (TCP/UDP/Unix, traffic rate, reverse DNS)	✅	—	—
Open files, env (with redaction), process tree	✅	—	—
GPU (NVIDIA/AMD)	✅	—	—
Port search, kill/signal panel	✅	—	—
peekd (history, alerts)	✅	—	—
TUI, export (JSON/MD/HTML/PDF)	✅	✅ (preview)	✅ (preview)

Project layout

Path	Description
`crates/peek-cli`	CLI and TUI binary `peek` (crate name: `peek-process`)
`crates/peek-core`	Core library: `ProcessInfo`, `collect()`, `collect_extended()`
`crates/peekd`	Daemon for history and alerts (Unix socket)
`crates/proc-reader`	`/proc/<PID>/*` and sysfs parsing
`crates/kernel-explainer`	Raw kernel values
`crates/resource-sampler`	CPU, memory, disk I/O, GPU, ring buffer
`crates/network-inspector`	TCP/UDP/Unix sockets, reverse DNS
`crates/signal-engine`	Signal impact analysis, systemd detection
`crates/export-engine`	JSON, Markdown, HTML, PDF
`packaging/`	systemd unit, RPM/Debian/Arch packaging
`docs/`	Extended docs: architecture, peekd, scripting, FAQ

Documentation

Link	Description
GitHub Discussions	Questions and community
docs/architecture.md	Architecture and peekd IPC
docs/peekd.md	Daemon and alerts
docs/scripting.md	Scripting and automation
docs/faq.md	FAQ
CONTRIBUTING.md	Contributing
SECURITY.md	Security
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md	Code of conduct

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 9 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
crates		crates
docs		docs
packaging		packaging
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md		CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
SECURITY.md		SECURITY.md
clippy.toml		clippy.toml
deny.toml		deny.toml
install.sh		install.sh
justfile		justfile
rustfmt.toml		rustfmt.toml

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peek

The Process Intelligence Tool for Linux

Table of contents

Screenshots

Why peek?

Comparison with other tools

Summary

Quick start

Example: peek nginx (trimmed)

Usage

Basic inspection

Sections (flags)

Live TUI and export

Port search and kill panel

History and alerts (requires peekd)

Installation

Prerequisites

GNU/Linux

Debian / Ubuntu

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS

Arch Linux

Other Linux (generic)

macOS

Windows

Cargo (all platforms)

Build from source

Optional build-time features

Runtime dependencies

Platform support

Project layout

Documentation

License

About

Resources

License

Code of conduct

Contributing

Security policy

Uh oh!

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases 1

Packages 0

Uh oh!

Contributors 1

Languages

Example: `peek nginx` (trimmed)

History and alerts (requires `peekd`)

Packages