Tasks are the number of open processes on the system.

Next to the memory bars, there is a section that shows the system tasks, load average, and uptime: Just like the CPU, these rows have colorful ticks that represent the amount of memory being consumed by processes running on the computer. The colors represent the type of process running on that core:īelow the CPU bars are the memory (Mem) and swap (Swp) rows. For example, if your computer has 8 cores, there will be 8 bars. The number of bars depends on the number of cores your CPU has. Each bar represents a CPU core, and the colorful ticks inside the bar represent the load on that core.

CPU and Memory UsageĪt the very top, there are multiple numbered bars with colorful | ticks. I’ll walk you through the critical parts of the interface. To get started using htop, install it by running the following command: It makes it super easy to closely monitor resource-hungry processes and ensure that they don’t get out of hand. I rely on htop for the information I need to know how well my computer and docker containers are running.

Tasks like finding and killing pesky processes can be easily performed without entering their PIDs, and the list of processes can be quickly sorted and filtered. It has bright colors that aid in giving quick, visual, at-a-glance information about your system’s status. Htop is interactive via mouse and keyboard. Htop is a text-mode (console or terminal) process application for Unix systems.

Its color-coded display makes it easy to understand the status of your system at a glance and gives you the power to manage processes with a single keystroke. Are you using memory-intensive processes? Do you need to closely monitor containers and virtual systems on your computer? htop is the tool you’ve been looking for.

Network htop