Reference

Every option, key and colour in SysVitals 1.0.0.

Command line

sysvitals [-h] [-i INTERVAL] [--dump] [--version]

Option	Default	What it does
-i, --interval INTERVAL	1.5	How often the screen refreshes, in seconds. Fractions are allowed, for example -i 0.5.
--dump	off	Prints one plain-text snapshot of all four views and exits. No full-screen view.
--version		Prints sysvitals 1.0.0 and exits.
-h, --help		Prints the usage text and exits.

You start it as ./sysvitals.py (or sysvitals if you copied it onto your PATH). Run with sudo to read NVMe health data and to see the owning program of every socket.

Without --dump, SysVitals must run in a terminal. If its output is redirected to a file or pipe, it stops with sysvitals: not a terminal (use --dump for text output).

There is no configuration file, and SysVitals saves no settings.

Keys on every tab

Key	Action
1 2 3 4	Go to Processes, Network, Ports or Disks.
F1 to F4	Same as 1 to 4.
Tab	Next tab.
↑ ↓	Move the selection one row (on Disks, scroll).
PgUp PgDn	Move 20 rows.
Home End	Go to the first or last row.
/	Filter the current tab (not on Disks).
q or Q	Quit. Ctrl + C also quits.

Switching tabs clears the filter and any status message.

Keys while filtering

Key	Action
Any printable character	Adds it to the filter. The table updates as you type.
Backspace	Deletes the last character.
Enter	Keeps the filter and returns to normal keys.
Esc	Clears the filter and returns to normal keys.

On Processes the filter matches the process name, the command line, or an exact PID. On Network and Ports it matches any text in the row. Case is ignored.

Keys on the Processes tab

Key	Action
c	Sort by CPU% (highest first).
m	Sort by MEM% (highest first).
t	Sort by TIME (highest first).
p	Sort by PID (lowest first).
n	Sort by name (A to Z).
K	Show or hide kernel threads. Hidden at start.
x or F9	Send a signal to the selected process.

Pressing the current sort key again reverses the order.

After x or F9, the bottom line asks which signal to send:

Key	Action
t	Send SIGTERM (ask the process to quit).
k	Send SIGKILL (end it immediately).
Esc or any other key	Cancel.

Colours

Where	Colour	Meaning
CPU, Mem and Swp bars	Green, yellow, red	Below 60 %, below 85 %, 85 % and above.
Process rows	Yellow	The process uses more than 50 % CPU.
Network rows	Green	ESTABLISHED connection.
Network rows	Cyan	LISTEN socket.
Ports rows	Yellow	Listens on all interfaces (0.0.0.0 or ::).
Drive life bar	Green, yellow, red	Above 30 %, above 10 %, 10 % or less.
Drive temperature	Green, yellow, red	Below 55 °C, below 70 °C, 70 °C and above.
Filesystem bars	Green, yellow, red	Below 70 %, below 90 %, 90 % and above.

Snapshot sections

--dump waits one second to measure activity, then prints:

Section	Contents
=== SysVitals 1.0.0 snapshot ===	Total CPU, core count, load average, CPU temperature (if known), memory and swap.
--- Top processes by CPU ---	The 10 busiest processes: PID, user, CPU%, MEM%, resident memory, name.
--- Network: N sockets, M established ---	Up to 10 established connections with their owner.
--- Listening ports ---	Every listening port with its service name and owner.
--- Disks ---	Each drive with speed, temperature and SMART summary.
--- Mounts ---	Each filesystem with used and total size and percentage.

Where the data comes from

Data	Source
CPU, processes, memory	/proc/stat, /proc/<pid>/, /proc/meminfo
CPU temperature	/sys/class/hwmon, sensors named k10temp, coretemp, zenpower or cpu_thermal
Sockets and ports	/proc/net/tcp, tcp6, udp, udp6, matched to processes through /proc/<pid>/fd
Service names	Your system's services database (/etc/services)
Drive model, serial, firmware	/sys/block
Drive throughput	/proc/diskstats
Drive temperature	/sys/class/hwmon (nvme and drivetemp sensors)
NVMe health	The drive's SMART/health log, read with the kernel's NVMe admin command (root only)
SATA health	smartctl -H -A from smartmontools
Filesystems	/proc/mounts

Next steps

• Beginner guide
• Troubleshooting and FAQ