ptop3

An htop-like TUI process monitor that groups processes by application.

Screenshots

Main group view — processes grouped by application

Detail view — individual processes for a selected group

Tree view — process hierarchy within a group

Features

• Groups processes by application name with smart alias resolution
• Colored header with memory, swap, load-average badges
• Sort by memory, CPU, RSS, swap, I/O, network, or count
• Regex filter across app name, process name, and cmdline
• Process tree view within a selected application group
• Kill signals (SIGTERM / SIGKILL) for individual processes or entire groups
• w key: clean swap by cycling swapoff/swapon (passwordless sudo)
• d key: drop kernel caches (passwordless sudo)
• Alerts for high CPU, memory, swap, disk usage, and zombie processes
• Lite mode (--lite) for lower overhead on busy systems

Installation

pip install ptop3

Quick Start

ptop3                 # interactive TUI
python -m ptop3       # same via module
ptop3 --once          # print one-shot table and exit
ptop3 --filter python # filter to python processes

Sudo Setup

The w (swap-clean) and d (drop-caches) keys require root. Configure passwordless sudo once:

sudo ptop3 --init-subscripts

Or manually:

sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/ptop3
# Add:
# YOUR_USER ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /path/to/ptop3-drop-caches
# YOUR_USER ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /path/to/ptop3-swap-clean

Check sudo status:

ptop3 --check-sudo

CLI Reference

Flag	Default	Description
--once	off	Print one-shot table and exit
-f/--filter REGEX	—	Filter by app/name/cmdline
-s/--sort KEY	mem	Sort key: mem, cpu, rss, swap, io, net, count
-n/--top N	15	Rows to show in --once mode
--refresh SECS	2.0	Refresh interval
--lite	off	Lite mode: skip cmdline/IO for tiny procs
--check-sudo	—	Check sudo config for subscripts
--init-subscripts	—	Write /etc/sudoers.d/ptop3

Key Bindings

Key	Action
↑/↓ or j/k	Move selection
PgUp/PgDn	Page up/down
Home/End	Jump to first/last
Enter or l	Expand group to detail view
h	Back to group view
t	Toggle process tree (detail view)
s	Cycle sort key
f	Enter filter regex
r	Reset filter
+/-	Increase/decrease refresh interval
k/K	Send SIGTERM/SIGKILL to selected
g	Kill whole group (SIGTERM)
w	Run swap-clean
d	Drop caches
q or Ctrl-C	Quit

Subscripts

The privileged subscripts can also be run directly:

ptop3-drop-caches --help
ptop3-drop-caches --level 1 --dry-run

ptop3-swap-clean --help
ptop3-swap-clean --safety-mb 256 --dry-run

Development

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ptop3
cd ptop3
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
ruff check ptop3/