bottom (btm)
bottom (command: btm) is a cross-platform graphical system monitor written in Rust. It provides real-time CPU, memory, network, disk, process, temperature, and battery monitoring in a customizable terminal UI.
Installation
# Using cargo (Rust)
cargo install bottom
# macOS
brew install bottom
# Ubuntu/Debian
curl -sSfL https://github.com/ClementTsang/bottom/releases/latest/download/bottom_amd64.deb \
-o bottom.deb
sudo dpkg -i bottom.deb
# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S bottom
# Fedora/RHEL
sudo dnf install bottom
# Nix
nix-env -i bottom
# Snap
sudo snap install bottom
# Verify installation
btm --versionBasic Usage
# Launch bottom
btm
# Launch with specific update rate (milliseconds)
btm -r 500
# Launch with Celsius temperatures (default is Celsius)
btm -C
# Launch with Fahrenheit
btm -f
# Launch with basic mode (simplified view)
btm -bKeyboard Shortcuts
Global Navigation
q / Ctrl+c Quit
Esc Close dialog / Return to normal mode
? Open help menu
Tab Move to next widget
Shift+Tab Move to previous widget
e Toggle process search
/ Open process searchProcess View
dd Kill selected process (sends SIGTERM)
Enter Expand/collapse process tree
s Sort menu
I Invert current sort
% Toggle percentage display for CPU/memory
P Sort by PID
N Sort by process name
C Sort by CPU usage
M Sort by memory usage
T Toggle tree modeGraph Views
h / Left Scroll left (zoom in on time axis)
l / Right Scroll right (zoom out on time axis)
+ Zoom in
- Zoom out
= Reset zoom
Up/Down Navigate items in lists
g Jump to top of list
G Jump to bottom of listProcess View
# Process view shows:
# - PID
# - Process name
# - CPU usage (%)
# - Memory usage (% and absolute)
# - Read/Write disk I/O
# - Total CPU time
# - User
# - State
# Process tree mode
# Press 'T' to toggle tree view
# Shows parent-child process relationships
# Search processes
# Press '/' or 'e' to open search
# Type process name to filter
# Supports regex patterns:
# /nginx.*worker
# /^pythonCPU Widget
# CPU widget shows:
# - Per-core CPU usage graphs over time
# - Average CPU usage line
# - Color-coded per core
# Toggle CPU display
# Tab to CPU widget
# Press 'a' to toggle average CPU line
# Press 'l' to toggle legendMemory Widget
# Memory widget shows:
# - RAM usage graph over time
# - Swap usage graph over time
# - Percentage and absolute values
# Memory display format:
# RAM: 8.2 GiB / 16.0 GiB (51.2%)
# SWP: 0.5 GiB / 8.0 GiB (6.3%)Network Widget
# Network widget shows:
# - Upload and download rates over time
# - Total data transferred
# - Per-interface breakdown
# Network units toggle
# Press 'b' to toggle between bits and bytesDisk Widget
# Disk widget shows:
# - Mount point
# - Used / Total space
# - Read/Write rates
# - Filesystem type
# Example:
# / ext4 45.2 GiB / 100.0 GiB (45.2%) R: 1.2 MB/s W: 0.5 MB/s
# /home ext4 120.5 GiB / 500.0 GiB (24.1%) R: 0.0 MB/s W: 0.1 MB/sBattery Widget
# Battery widget (laptops only) shows:
# - Charge percentage
# - Charge/discharge rate
# - Time to full/empty
# - Battery health
# Enable battery widget
btm --batteryTemperature Widget
# Temperature widget shows:
# - CPU core temperatures
# - GPU temperature (if available)
# - Other hardware sensors
# Switch temperature unit
btm -C # Celsius (default)
btm -f # Fahrenheit
btm -k # KelvinFiltering
# In process view, press '/' to search
# Search supports:
# Simple text match
/nginx
# Regex patterns
/^python3
# Case-insensitive search (default)
/NGINX
# Case-sensitive search
/cs:Nginx
# Search by PID
/pid:1234
# Search by user
/user:root
# Combine filters with OR
/nginx|apache
# Press Esc to close search
# Press Ctrl+u to clear searchConfiguration File
# Configuration file location:
# Linux: ~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml
# macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/bottom/bottom.toml
# Create config directory
mkdir -p ~/.config/bottom# ~/.config/bottom/bottom.toml
# General settings
[flags]
rate = "1s" # Update rate
temperature_type = "celsius" # celsius, fahrenheit, kelvin
default_widget_type = "proc" # Default focused widget
show_table_scroll_position = true
enable_gpu = false
enable_cache_memory = true
tree = true # Start in tree mode
battery = true # Show battery widget
# Process columns
[processes]
columns = ["PID", "Name", "CPU%", "Mem%", "R/s", "W/s", "User"]
# Colors
[colors]
table_header_color = "LightBlue"
cpu_core_colors = ["Red", "Green", "Yellow", "Blue", "Magenta", "Cyan"]
ram_color = "Green"
swap_color = "Yellow"
rx_color = "Green"
tx_color = "Red"
border_color = "Gray"
highlighted_border_color = "LightBlue"
selected_text_color = "Black"
selected_bg_color = "LightBlue"Custom Layouts
# Custom layout in bottom.toml
# Create a 3-row layout
[[row]]
ratio = 30
[[row.child]]
type = "cpu"
[[row]]
ratio = 40
[[row.child]]
ratio = 50
type = "mem"
[[row.child]]
ratio = 50
type = "net"
[[row]]
ratio = 30
[[row.child]]
type = "proc"
default = true # Start focused on this widget# Side-by-side layout
[[row]]
[[row.child]]
ratio = 60
[[row.child.child]]
type = "cpu"
[[row.child.child]]
type = "proc"
[[row.child]]
ratio = 40
[[row.child.child]]
type = "mem"
[[row.child.child]]
type = "net"
[[row.child.child]]
type = "disk"Command-Line Flags
# Basic mode (no graphs, just tables)
btm -b
# Grouped processes (aggregate by name)
btm -g
# Start with process tree view
btm -T
# Specific default widget
btm --default_widget_type cpu
btm --default_widget_type mem
btm --default_widget_type net
btm --default_widget_type proc
# Dot marker style instead of braille
btm --dot_marker
# Disable mouse support
btm --disable_click
# Use specific config file
btm -C /path/to/config.toml
# Left legend for CPU
btm --cpu_left_legend
# Whole-word search default
btm -W
# Show average CPU in row
btm -aTips
# Alias for quick access
alias top='btm'
alias htop='btm'
# Compare with other monitors
# btm vs htop: btm has network/disk graphs, htop has more process control
# btm vs glances: btm is lighter, glances has more plugins
# btm vs gotop: btm is more configurable, actively maintained
# Remote monitoring via SSH
ssh server 'btm -b' # Basic mode works best over SSH
# Export process list (use procs or ps for that)
# btm is interactive-only, not designed for scripting