https://github.com/daniel29348679/macpulse
Native macOS menu bar system monitor — CPU, RAM, network at a glance
https://github.com/daniel29348679/macpulse
appkit cpu-monitor macos menu-bar network-monitor swift system-monitor
Last synced: 6 days ago
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Native macOS menu bar system monitor — CPU, RAM, network at a glance
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/daniel29348679/macpulse
- Owner: daniel29348679
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-05-07T08:35:35.000Z (2 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-07T13:34:49.000Z (2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-07T15:39:45.900Z (2 months ago)
- Topics: appkit, cpu-monitor, macos, menu-bar, network-monitor, swift, system-monitor
- Language: Swift
- Size: 5.31 MB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# MacPulse
**A tiny native macOS menu bar app that gives you a live pulse of your machine.**
CPU · GPU · Memory · Network · Disk · Temperature · Power — at a glance, in one click.
No Electron. No background daemon. Just a single Swift binary that sits quietly in your menu bar.
---
## Features
| | |
|---|---|
| **CPU** | total %, with user / system / idle breakdown + rolling sparkline |
| **GPU** | device utilization %, renderer / tiler breakdown, and active unified-memory use |
| **Memory** | % and `used / total` GB, computed the way Activity Monitor does (`active + wired + compressed`) |
| **Network** | live ↓ / ↑ rates across all physical interfaces — `lo`, `utun`, `awdl`, `bridge` excluded |
| **Disk** | read / write bytes per second across every `IOBlockStorageDriver` device |
| **Temperature** | live CPU °C from on-die thermal sensors; falls back to Apple's thermal-pressure level |
| **Power** | charge wattage when plugged in, draw wattage when on battery — read from `AppleSmartBattery` |
Every metric can be **toggled independently** in the menu bar and in the popover via a dedicated Settings window.
On battery
Charging
The status bar text adapts to your selection. With the default loadout it reads:
```
CPU 12% GPU 18% RAM 47% ↓12W
↓ 1.2M ↑ 234K
```
The bottom row appears only when at least one rate-style metric (Network / Disk) is enabled.
## Settings
A dedicated window for picking which metrics show where, the sample interval, the chart history window, launch-at-login, and in-app updates.
## Requirements
- macOS 13 (Ventura) or newer
- Swift 5.9+ toolchain (Xcode 15 or the Command Line Tools)
## Install
### Option 1 — Prebuilt `.app` (easiest)
Grab the latest `MacPulse-vX.Y.Z.zip` from the [Releases page](../../releases),
unzip, and drag `MacPulse.app` into `/Applications`.
The binary is ad-hoc signed (not notarized), so the first launch needs:
**right-click `MacPulse.app` → Open → Open**.
### Option 2 — Build from source
```bash
git clone https://github.com/daniel29348679/MacPulse.git
cd MacPulse
# Quick run (debug build)
swift run -c release
# Or bundle into a real .app with the icon baked in
scripts/make-icon.sh # one-off, rebuilds Resources/AppIcon.icns from AppIcon-source.png
scripts/build-app.sh # produces ./MacPulse.app
open MacPulse.app
```
The first build takes ~30s; after that startup is instant.
## How it works
| Metric | Source |
| ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| CPU | `host_statistics(HOST_CPU_LOAD_INFO)` — diff of user/system/idle ticks between samples |
| GPU | IOKit `IOAccelerator.PerformanceStatistics` — device / renderer / tiler utilization and active system memory |
| Memory | `host_statistics64(HOST_VM_INFO64)` — `(active + wired + compressed) × page_size` |
| Network | `getifaddrs()` + `if_data` — diff of `ifi_ibytes` / `ifi_obytes` between samples |
| Disk | IOKit `IOBlockStorageDriver.Statistics` — diff of `Bytes (Read)` / `Bytes (Write)` |
| Temperature | `IOHIDEventSystemClient` — enumerate `kHIDPage_AppleVendor / TemperatureSensor` services |
| Power | IOKit `AppleSmartBattery` registry entry — `Voltage × Amperage`, plus `IsCharging` / `ExternalConnected` for direction |
> **About the temperature reading.** Apple does not expose CPU °C through any public API.
> We use `IOHIDEventSystemClient` (private but linkable from `IOKit.framework`) to enumerate
> all HID temperature sensors. On Apple Silicon, names like `PMU tdie0`–`PMU tdie14` are the
> on-die sensors, and we report the maximum value across them as "CPU temperature." This is
> the same trick the popular open-source [Stats](https://github.com/exelban/stats) app uses.
> It works without entitlements but uses unpublished symbols, so a future macOS release
> *could* break it. When it does, the app falls back to `ProcessInfo.processInfo.thermalState`
> (Cool / Warm / Hot / Critical), which is the only public API for thermal info.
>
> Run `MacPulse.app/Contents/MacOS/MacPulse --dump-sensors` to print every readable sensor.
> **About power.** When charging, MacPulse shows the wattage flowing **into** the battery; when
> on battery, the wattage flowing **out**. Plugged in but battery full → the section shows `AC`
> (effective draw on the cells is ≈ 0). Desktop Macs (Mac mini / iMac / Studio) have no battery,
> so the section reads `—`. Numbers are computed from `Voltage × Amperage` reported by
> `AppleSmartBattery`; we always display the absolute value because the sign convention for
> `Amperage` differs across Mac generations.
Default sampling interval: **1 second**. Change it from the right-click menu or the
Settings window; allowed values are 0.5 / 1 / 3 / 5 / 10 s, persisted via `UserDefaults`.
## Project layout
```
MacPulse/
├── Package.swift
├── Resources/
│ ├── AppIcon-source.png # 1254×1254 master image (source of truth)
│ └── AppIcon.icns # built by scripts/make-icon.sh
├── scripts/
│ ├── build-app.sh # bundle MacPulse.app for local use
│ └── make-icon.sh # rescale source PNG into the .icns iconset
├── docs/ # README screenshots
└── Sources/MacPulse/
├── main.swift # NSApplication entry point + CLI flags
├── AppDelegate.swift
├── Settings.swift # UserDefaults-backed prefs + Metric enum
├── Screenshots.swift # offscreen render mode for marketing shots
├── Monitors/
│ ├── CPUMonitor.swift
│ ├── GPUMonitor.swift # IOAccelerator PerformanceStatistics via IOKit
│ ├── MemoryMonitor.swift
│ ├── NetworkMonitor.swift
│ ├── DiskMonitor.swift
│ ├── TemperatureMonitor.swift
│ ├── TemperatureSensors.swift # IOHIDEventSystemClient bridge
│ ├── PowerMonitor.swift # AppleSmartBattery via IOKit
│ └── Formatter.swift
└── UI/
├── StatusBarController.swift
├── StatsPopoverController.swift
├── SettingsWindowController.swift
└── SparklineView.swift
```
## Roadmap
- [x] Disk I/O monitoring
- [x] Sparkline charts in the popover
- [x] Configurable update interval
- [x] Toggle which metrics show in the menu bar / popover
- [x] Thermal state indicator
- [x] On-die °C temperature reading
- [x] Battery charge / discharge wattage
- [x] GPU usage
- [x] App icon
- [ ] Per-core CPU breakdown
- [ ] Notarized `.app` bundle in releases
PRs welcome.
## License
[MIT](LICENSE)