A btop-style, real-time performance monitor for Apple Silicon Macs — built in Rust.
Combines macmon (no-root IOKit metrics) with powermetrics (root-level thermal, SoC power, and I/O) to give you the most complete picture of your M-series chip possible in a terminal.
| Metric | Source | Requires sudo |
|---|---|---|
| CPU usage (per-cluster + per-core sparklines) | macmon | No |
| CPU / E-cluster / P-cluster / S-cluster frequency | macmon | No |
| GPU utilization & frequency | macmon | No |
| CPU, GPU, ANE power | macmon | No |
| SoC / combined power | powermetrics | Yes |
| RAM & swap usage | macmon | No |
| Disk read/write throughput | powermetrics | Yes |
| Network rx/tx throughput | powermetrics | Yes |
| CPU & GPU temperature | macmon | No |
| Thermal pressure (Nominal / Fair / Serious / Critical) | powermetrics | Yes |
macmon-only mode (no sudo): CPU, GPU, memory, power, and temperature still work.
Full mode (sudo): adds thermal pressure, disk/network I/O, and more precise SoC power.
- Braille-resolution charts — 2× horizontal and 4× vertical sub-cell resolution using Unicode Braille patterns, matching btop's density.
- Mirror I/O charts — download above / upload below a shared x-axis, so both directions are instantly comparable.
- Per-core sparklines — every P-core and S-core gets its own one-line history, laid out in two columns.
- HSL gradient palettes — each panel has a distinct color theme; utilization gauges shift from cool to warm as load rises.
- Ring-buffer history — configurable sample count (default 1024) keeps charts smooth across intervals.
- Powermetrics state indicator — footer shows
pm: WAIT → ON → OFFso you always know whether root-level data is flowing.
- macOS 13+ (Ventura or later recommended)
- Apple Silicon Mac — M1, M2, M3, M4, or M5 series
- Rust 1.75+ — install via rustup
powermetrics— ships with macOS, found at/usr/bin/powermetrics
brew install tejasgajare/tap/basitopgit clone https://github.com/tejasgajare/basitop.git
cd basitop
cargo build --releaseThe binary is at target/release/basitop. Copy it wherever you like:
sudo cp target/release/basitop /usr/local/bin/Each tagged release publishes a pre-built Apple Silicon binary:
curl -L https://github.com/tejasgajare/basitop/releases/latest/download/basitop-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz \
| tar -xz
sudo mv basitop-aarch64-apple-darwin/basitop /usr/local/bin/basitopCPU, GPU, memory, power, and temperature metrics are available immediately without elevated privileges.
sudo basitopRunning as root activates the powermetrics companion process, which adds:
- Thermal pressure level
- Disk read/write throughput
- Network rx/tx throughput
- More precise SoC / combined power
The pm: indicator in the footer shows the powermetrics state:
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
pm: WAIT |
powermetrics launched, first sample not yet parsed |
pm: ON |
streaming live data |
pm: OFF |
powermetrics not running (no sudo, or it crashed) |
Tip: if you want full metrics without typing
sudoeach time, you can configure a sudoers rule:username ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/powermetrics
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
q / Ctrl+C |
Quit |
Tab / Shift+Tab |
Cycle through panels |
← ↑ → ↓ |
Navigate panels spatially |
+ / = |
Increase update interval (+500 ms) |
- |
Decrease update interval (−500 ms) |
h |
Toggle help overlay |
basitop [OPTIONS]
Options:
-i, --interval <ms> Update interval in milliseconds [default: 1000]
--history <N> History ring-buffer size in samples [default: 1024]
-h, --help Print help
Interval controls how often the TUI redraws. The macmon sampler runs at roughly half the interval (clamped to ≥ 250 ms), and powermetrics runs at the same half-interval.
History controls how many samples each chart holds. The Braille canvas renders 2 sub-columns per character cell, so a chart 60 columns wide displays 120 data points. Setting --history below that will show blank space at the left edge until the buffer fills; setting it much higher just costs a little memory.
If pm: stays OFF after running with sudo, check the diagnostic log:
cat /tmp/basitop_pm.logThe log records the exact command used, the child PID, first-sample timestamp, and any powermetrics stderr. See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to run the live integration test.
- macmon — Rust crate that reads Apple Silicon power/frequency/temp via IOKit without root.
- btop — visual inspiration for layout, color style, and the mirror I/O chart.
- asitop — reference implementation for powermetrics plist parsing on Apple Silicon.
- htop / btop — the TUI monitor genre that inspired the layout and interaction model.
- ratatui — terminal UI framework.
MIT — see LICENSE.