coreusage

A small Linux CLI tool to display CPU usage per core, frequency, and memory usage.

Description

Lightweight CLI program to display current CPU usage and clock frequency per core, including bar graphs. It also monitors system memory (RAM) usage. The tool runs cleanly in TTYs, supports flicker-free rendering, and provides meaningful output even when piped (without TTY).

Build

Prerequisites:

• GCC or compatible C compiler
• Make
• libsensors development package (usually lm_sensors or libsensors-dev)

To compile, run in the project directory:

make

This generates the binary: coreusage

Debug build with sanitizers:

make clean && make debug

Archlinux:

There is "coreusage-git" in the AUR !

Installation

sudo make install

Uninstallation

sudo make uninstall

Usage

coreusage [--interval <ms>] [--bar-width <n>] [--no-color] [--no-temp] [--help]

Options:

• --interval <ms>: Sampling interval in milliseconds (Default: 200)
• --bar-width <n>: Width of the usage bar (Default: 40)
• --no-color: Disable ANSI colors (useful for pipes/logs)
• --no-temp: Hide temperature line
• --help: Show help

Examples:

# Wider bars, faster interval, no color
coreusage --bar-width 60 --interval 150 --no-color

# Only CPU usage and frequency, without temperature line
coreusage --no-temp

Notes:

• Colors are automatically used only on TTYs; use --no-color to force disable them.
• Exit with q or ESC, or via signals (e.g., Ctrl+C).
• The tool uses poll() for efficient input handling and minimal CPU overhead.

Screenshot

License

MIT License

Author

(2025) Lennart Martens