procs

procs is a modern replacement for ps, the Unix process viewer. It adds color-coded output, human-readable memory and CPU figures, Docker container awareness, and a flexible column layout — all configurable via a TOML file.

Features

• Color output — processes, PIDs, CPU%, and memory are all color-coded for quick scanning
• Human-readable sizes — memory shown in KB/MB/GB rather than raw bytes
• Search — filter processes by name, PID, or any other column directly from the command line
• Paging — output is automatically paged when it exceeds the terminal height
• Docker awareness — shows the container name for processes running inside Docker
• Configurable columns — choose exactly which columns to show and in what order via ~/.config/procs/config.toml
• Tree view — display process hierarchy with --tree
• Watch mode — auto-refresh output at a configurable interval with --watch

Installation

cargo install procs

Or via your package manager:

# Debian / Ubuntu (Debian 12+)
apt install procs

# Fedora
dnf install procs

# macOS
brew install procs

# Arch Linux
pacman -S procs

# Nix
nix-env -iA nixpkgs.procs

Usage

# List all processes (replaces ps aux)
procs

# Search for a specific process by name
procs nginx

# Search by PID
procs 1234

# Show process tree
procs --tree

# Watch mode — refresh every second
procs --watch

# Watch with a custom interval (e.g. 500ms)
procs --watch-interval 500

Configuration

procs is configured via ~/.config/procs/config.toml. You can control which columns are shown, their order, and color scheme. Run the following to generate a default config to start from:

procs --gen-config > ~/.config/procs/config.toml