🖥️ System Monitor CLI Dashboard

A beautiful, real-time system monitoring dashboard for the terminal that provides comprehensive insights into your system's performance with live temperature graphs, resource usage, and hardware information.

Real-time system monitoring dashboard in your terminal

✨ Features

🌡️ Temperature Monitoring & History

Real-time temperature tracking for CPU and GPU
Visual temperature graphs with configurable history points
Color-coded alerts (green/yellow/red based on configurable thresholds)
Historical trends showing temperature patterns over time

💻 System Resource Monitoring

CPU usage with percentage and core count
Memory usage with detailed used/total breakdown
Real-time updates with configurable refresh rate
Percentage-based color coding for quick status assessment

🎮 GPU Information

NVIDIA GPU support with detailed metrics
GPU utilization and temperature monitoring
VRAM usage (used/total memory)
Power consumption tracking
GPU model identification

💿 Disk Usage Analysis

Multiple filesystem support with smart filtering
Dual view modes: exact bytes and GB format
Mounted drive information with usage percentages
Automatic filtering of virtual/temporary filesystems

⚙️ Configuration System

JSON-based configuration with user-friendly defaults
Customizable refresh rates and temperature thresholds
Configurable display options and color schemes
Per-user configuration stored in ~/.config/system-monitor/

🎨 Beautiful Terminal UI

Rich formatting with colors, emojis, and proper alignment
Live dashboard with smooth updates
Responsive layout that adapts to terminal size
Professional panels with clear section organization

🔧 Requirements

System Requirements

Linux (tested on Ubuntu/Debian-based systems)
Python 3.12+
NVIDIA GPU (optional, for GPU monitoring features)

Software Dependencies

nvidia-settings and nvidia-smi (for GPU monitoring)
sensors command (for CPU temperature - usually from lm-sensors package)

Install System Dependencies

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lm-sensors nvidia-utils-* python3.12 python3.12-venv

# Initialize sensors (run once)
sudo sensors-detect --auto

🚀 Installation & Quick Start

Option 1: Install as Python Package (Recommended)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bkocis/system-monitor-cli-app.git
cd system-monitor-cli-app

# Install the package
pip install -e .

# Run the dashboard
system-monitor

Option 2: Development Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bkocis/system-monitor-cli-app.git
cd system-monitor-cli-app

# Set up development environment
make dev-setup
source venv/bin/activate

# Run the dashboard
make run

Option 3: Script-based Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/bkocis/system-monitor-cli-app.git
cd system-monitor-cli-app

# Run using the setup script
./scripts/run_dashboard.sh

# Or launch in dedicated terminal window
./scripts/monitoring_terms.sh

Option 4: Manual Setup

# Create virtual environment
python3.12 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run dashboard
python -m src.system_monitor.main

📊 Dashboard Layout

The dashboard displays information in the following order:

🖥️  SYSTEM DASHBOARD  |  2024-01-15 14:30:25
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐

🌡️  Temperatures & History
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🏭 CPU:    72°C    [Temperature Graph]     │
│ 🎮 GPU:    65°C    [Temperature Graph]     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

💾 System Info                🎮 GPU Info
┌─────────────────┐          ┌─────────────────┐
│ 💻 CPU Usage: 45%│          │ 🎮 GPU: RTX 4090│
│ 🔢 CPU Cores: 16│          │ ⚡ Usage: 23%   │
│ 🧠 Memory: 67%  │          │ 🧠 VRAM: 2.1GB  │
│ 📦 Used: 32GB   │          │ ⚡ Power: 180W  │
└─────────────────┘          └─────────────────┘

💿 Disk Usage
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Filesystem    Size      Used      Avail  Use%│
│ /dev/sda1     500GB     350GB     150GB   70%│
│ /dev/sdb1     1TB       200GB     800GB   20%│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Press Ctrl+C to exit

⚙️ Configuration

Configuration File

The dashboard uses a JSON configuration file located at ~/.config/system-monitor/config.json.

Create custom configuration:

# Copy default configuration
mkdir -p ~/.config/system-monitor
cp config/default.json ~/.config/system-monitor/config.json

# Edit configuration
nano ~/.config/system-monitor/config.json

Configuration Options

{
  "refresh_rate": 1.0,
  "max_history_points": 100,
  "temperature_thresholds": {
    "warning": 70,
    "critical": 80
  },
  "display": {
    "show_gpu": true,
    "show_network": false,
    "graph_height": 8,
    "graph_length": 100
  },
  "colors": {
    "normal": "green",
    "warning": "yellow", 
    "critical": "red"
  }
}

For detailed configuration options, see docs/CONFIGURATION.md.

🔨 Development

Development Setup

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/bkocis/system-monitor-cli-app.git
cd system-monitor-cli-app

# Set up development environment
make dev-setup
source venv/bin/activate

# Install development dependencies
make install-dev

Available Make Commands

make help              # Show available commands
make install          # Install package in development mode
make install-dev      # Install with development dependencies
make test             # Run test suite
make test-coverage    # Run tests with coverage report
make lint             # Run linting tools (ruff)
make format           # Format code (ruff)
make clean            # Clean build artifacts
make run              # Run the dashboard
make build            # Build distribution packages

Running Tests

# Run all tests
make test

# Run with coverage
make test-coverage

# Run specific test file
pytest tests/test_dashboard.py

Code Quality

# Format code
make format

# Check code quality (linting and type checking)
make lint

# Check formatting without making changes
make format-check

📁 Project Structure

system-monitor-cli-app/
├── src/system_monitor/        # Main package
│   ├── __init__.py           # Package initialization
│   ├── main.py               # CLI entry point
│   ├── dashboard.py          # Core dashboard logic
│   └── config.py             # Configuration management
├── tests/                    # Test suite
│   ├── test_dashboard.py     # Dashboard tests
│   └── test_config.py        # Configuration tests
├── scripts/                  # Shell scripts
│   ├── run_dashboard.sh      # Main launcher
│   └── monitoring_terms.sh   # Terminal launcher
├── config/                   # Configuration files
│   └── default.json          # Default configuration
├── docs/                     # Documentation
│   ├── CONFIGURATION.md      # Configuration guide
│   └── DEVELOPMENT.md        # Development guide
├── requirements.txt          # Production dependencies
├── requirements-dev.txt      # Development dependencies
├── pyproject.toml           # Modern packaging config
├── setup.py                 # Package setup
├── Makefile                 # Development automation
└── CHANGELOG.md             # Version history

🎯 Use Cases

🔥 System Performance Monitoring

Monitor system health during intensive tasks
Track temperature trends during gaming or rendering
Identify resource bottlenecks in real-time

🎮 Gaming & Content Creation

Keep eye on GPU temperatures during gaming sessions
Monitor VRAM usage for optimal game settings
Track power consumption for efficiency optimization

🖥️ Server Administration

Monitor headless servers via SSH
Track resource usage trends over time
Quick system health checks

🔧 Development & Testing

Monitor resource usage during builds/tests
Profile application performance impact
Debug memory leaks and CPU spikes

⚡ Overclocking & Tuning

Monitor temperatures during stress testing
Track performance metrics after hardware changes
Validate cooling solutions effectiveness

🎨 Visual Features

Temperature Graphs

Real-time ASCII graphs showing temperature trends
Color coding: Green (cool), Yellow (warm), Red (hot)
Historical data with min/max temperature display
Adaptive scaling based on temperature range

Color-Coded Metrics

Green: Normal operation (< 50% usage, configurable temperature)
Yellow: Moderate load (50-75% usage, warning temperature)
Red: High load/temperature (> 75% usage, critical temperature)

🛠️ Troubleshooting

GPU Not Detected

# Check NVIDIA drivers
nvidia-smi

# Install nvidia-utils if missing
sudo apt install nvidia-utils-*

Temperature Sensors Not Working

# Detect sensors
sudo sensors-detect --auto

# Test sensors
sensors

Configuration Issues

# Reset to default configuration
rm ~/.config/system-monitor/config.json
# Will recreate on next run

# Validate JSON configuration
python -c "import json; json.load(open('~/.config/system-monitor/config.json'))"

Installation Issues

# Clean installation
make clean
pip uninstall system-monitor-cli
pip install -e .

# Development environment reset
rm -rf venv
make dev-setup

Permission Issues

# Make scripts executable
chmod +x scripts/run_dashboard.sh scripts/monitoring_terms.sh

🔍 Technical Details

Architecture

Python 3.12 with modern packaging standards
Rich library for terminal UI rendering
psutil for cross-platform system metrics
JSON configuration with user-friendly defaults
Modular design with separate concerns

Performance

Minimal CPU overhead (~1-2% CPU usage)
Memory efficient (~10-20MB RAM usage)
Configurable refresh rate (default: 1 second)
Adaptive terminal sizing for different screen sizes

Data Collection

CPU: psutil.cpu_percent() and sensors command
GPU: nvidia-smi and nvidia-settings integration
Memory: psutil.virtual_memory() and psutil.swap_memory()
Disk: psutil.disk_usage() with intelligent filtering
Temperature: Hardware sensor integration with configurable history

Testing

Comprehensive test suite with >90% coverage
Unit tests for all major components
Mocked external dependencies for reliable testing
Continuous integration ready

📦 Distribution

Building Packages

# Build wheel and source distribution
make build

# Files created in dist/
ls dist/
# system_monitor_cli-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl
# system_monitor_cli-1.0.0.tar.gz

Installing from Source

# Install from local directory
pip install .

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Install with development dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

📝 License

This project is open source under the MIT License. Feel free to modify and distribute according to your needs.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see docs/DEVELOPMENT.md for detailed development guidelines.

Areas for Improvement

Support for AMD GPUs
Additional sensor types
Network monitoring features
Export/logging capabilities
Windows/macOS support

Development Workflow

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch
Write tests for new features
Ensure code quality (make lint)
Submit a pull request

Reporting Issues

Please report bugs and feature requests on GitHub Issues.

🔗 Links

Repository: https://github.com/bkocis/system-monitor-cli-app
Issues: https://github.com/bkocis/system-monitor-cli-app/issues
Documentation: docs/

Created by Balaz Kocis | Professional System Monitoring for the Terminal

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 6 Commits
config		config
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
src/system_monitor		src/system_monitor
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
pyproject.toml		pyproject.toml
requirements-dev.txt		requirements-dev.txt
requirements.txt		requirements.txt
setup.py		setup.py

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