PortWatch

A macOS menu bar app that displays applications listening on TCP ports.

Features

• Shows count of apps with open ports in the menu bar
• Groups ports by application
• Color-coded icons by service type (Node.js, Python, Redis, etc.)
• Auto-refreshes every 5 seconds
• Click any app to see its ports

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen)
• App Sandbox must be disabled (uses lsof command)

Installation

With Claude

Open this repo in Claude Code and ask:

Install this app on my Mac

Claude will check your system, build the app, and install it to Applications.

Manual

1. Install XcodeGen: brew install xcodegen
2. Generate project: xcodegen generate
3. Build: xcodebuild -scheme PortWatch -configuration Release build
4. Copy to Applications: cp -r ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/PortWatch-*/Build/Products/Release/PortWatch.app /Applications/
5. Launch: open /Applications/PortWatch.app

How It Works

Uses lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN to detect applications with open TCP ports, parses the output, and displays them in a clean menu bar interface.

License

MIT