Argus CLI Command Reference

Complete reference for all 50 Argus CLI commands with usage examples and actual output.

Global Options

--source=auto|agent|jdk   Data source (default: auto)
--no-color                Disable ANSI colors
--lang=en|ko|ja|zh        Output language
--format=table|json       Output format (default: table)
--host HOST               Agent host (default: localhost)
--port PORT               Agent port (default: 9202)
--help, -h                Show help
--version, -v             Show version

argus ps

Lists all running JVM processes on the host.

$ argus ps

 argus ps
 Lists all running Java Virtual Machine processes on this host.

╭─ JVM Processes ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ PID       Main Class                                  Arguments              │
│ ────────  ──────────────────────────────────────────  ────────────────────── │
│ 56900     /Users/heemangkim/.argus/argus-cli.jar      ps                     │
│ 39113     org.gradle.launcher.daemon.bootstrap.Grad…  8.14                   │
│ 617       com.intellij.idea.Main                                             │
│ 37278     org.gradle.launcher.daemon.bootstrap.Grad…  8.14                   │
│                                                                              │
│ 4 process(es) found                                                          │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus histo <pid>

Shows heap object histogram — count and size of each class in memory.

$ argus histo 39113 --top 5

 argus histo
 Analyzes heap memory objects. Count = live instances, Size = total bytes occupied.

╭─ Heap Histogram ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ─────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│    #  Class                                                  Count      Size │
│ ────  ────────────────────────────────────────────────  ──────────  ──────── │
│    1  byte[]                                               111,050       16M │
│    2  java.lang.String                                     107,249        2M │
│    3  java.lang.Class                                       18,914        2M │
│    4  ConcurrentHashMap.Node                                62,917        2M │
│    5  java.lang.Object[]                                    25,496        1M │
│                                                                              │
│ Total: 718.6K objects · 40M                                                  │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Options:

--top N — Show top N classes (default: 20)
--source=jdk|agent — Force data source
--format=json — JSON output

argus threads <pid>

Summarizes thread states with distribution bars and deadlock detection.

$ argus threads 39113

 argus threads
 Summarizes thread states. BLOCKED threads may indicate lock contention.

╭─ Thread Summary ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ─────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Total: 30    Virtual: 0    Platform: 30                                      │
│                                                                              │
│ RUNNABLE        ██████░░░░░░░░░░    11  ( 37%)                               │
│ WAITING         ███████░░░░░░░░░    14  ( 47%)                               │
│ TIMED_WAITING   ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░     5  ( 17%)                               │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus gc <pid>

Shows GC statistics including heap usage, pause time, and collector info.

$ argus gc 39113

 argus gc
 Shows garbage collection activity. High overhead (>5%) may impact application performance.

╭─ GC Statistics ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ──────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Heap     [██░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  40M / 256M  (16%)                               │
│ Overhead [░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  0.0%                                            │
│                                                                              │
│ Total Events: 0    Pause Time: 0ms                                           │
│                                                                              │
│ Collectors:                                                                  │
│   g1 gc                      0 events    0ms                                 │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus gcutil <pid>

Shows GC generation utilization like jstat -gcutil with progress bars.

$ argus gcutil 39113

 argus gcutil
 Monitors GC generation utilization. S0/S1 = Survivor, E = Eden, O = Old, M = Metaspace, CCS = Compressed Class.

╭─ GC Utilization ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ─────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ S0      S1      Eden    Old     Meta    CCS     YGC    FGC    GCT            │
│ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────       │
│ 0.0%    0.0%    0.0%    41.8%   96.5%   87.1%   18     2      10.000         │
│                                                                              │
│   S0    [░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]    0.0%                                       │
│   S1    [░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]    0.0%                                       │
│   Eden  [░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]    0.0%                                       │
│   Old   [████████░░░░░░░░░░░░]   41.8%                                       │
│   Meta  [███████████████████░]   96.5%                                       │
│   CCS   [█████████████████░░░]   87.1%                                       │
│                                                                              │
│ YGC: 18 (0.163s)    FGC: 2 (0.215s)    Total: 10.000s                        │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Options:

--watch N — Continuous monitoring every N seconds

argus heap <pid>

Shows detailed heap memory usage with exact byte counts, free memory, GC summary, and per-space breakdown.

$ argus heap 39113

 argus heap
 Shows heap memory regions. High usage in Old Gen may indicate memory pressure.

╭─ Heap Memory ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Used     [███░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  40M / 256M  (16%)                               │
│                                                                              │
│   Used:                40M      (41,976,832 bytes)                           │
│   Committed:          256M     (268,435,456 bytes)                           │
│   Max:                256M            (15.6% used)                           │
│   Free:               216M                                                   │
│                                                                              │
│   Heap Spaces                                                                │
│   class space   [█████████░]     11M /    12M  ( 87%)                        │
│   Metaspace     [██████████]     80M /    83M  ( 97%) ⚠                      │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus sysprops <pid>

Displays JVM system properties with optional filter.

$ argus sysprops 39113 --filter=java.version

 argus sysprops
 Displays JVM system properties (-D flags and runtime defaults). Use --filter to search.

╭─ System Properties ── pid:39113 ── source:jdk ───────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Key                                     Value                                │
│ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────       │
│ java.version                            21.0.9                               │
│ java.version.date                       2025-10-21                           │
│                                                                              │
│ Total: 55 properties  filter: "java.version"  shown: 2                       │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Options:

--filter=<pattern> — Case-insensitive search on key or value

argus vmflag <pid>

Shows non-default VM flags with optional filter. Supports runtime flag modification.

$ argus vmflag 39113 --filter=Heap

 argus vmflag
 Shows all non-default VM flags. Use --set to modify manageable flags at runtime.

╭─ VM Flags ── pid:39113 ── source:jdk ────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Flag                                        Value                            │
│ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────       │
│ G1HeapRegionSize                            1048576                          │
│ HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError                  true                             │
│ InitialHeapSize                             268435456                        │
│ MaxHeapSize                                 536870912                        │
│ MinHeapDeltaBytes                           1048576                          │
│ MinHeapSize                                 268435456                        │
│ NonNMethodCodeHeapSize                      5839564                          │
│ NonProfiledCodeHeapSize                     122909338                        │
│ ProfiledCodeHeapSize                        122909338                        │
│ SoftMaxHeapSize                             536870912                        │
│                                                                              │
│ Total: 28 flags  filter: "Heap"  shown: 10                                   │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Options:

--filter=<pattern> — Search flag names
--set FlagName=value — Modify a manageable flag at runtime
--set +FlagName / --set -FlagName — Toggle boolean flags

argus nmt <pid>

Shows native memory tracking by category. Requires the target JVM to be started with -XX:NativeMemoryTracking=summary.

$ argus nmt 39113

 argus nmt
 Shows native memory usage by category. Requires -XX:NativeMemoryTracking=summary on target JVM.

╭─ Native Memory ── pid:39113 ── source:jdk ───────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ NMT not enabled on this JVM.                                                 │
│ Start the JVM with: -XX:NativeMemoryTracking=summary                         │
│                                                                              │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

To enable NMT:

java -XX:NativeMemoryTracking=summary -jar your-app.jar

argus classloader <pid>

Shows the class loader hierarchy and loaded class counts per loader.

$ argus classloader 39113

 argus classloader
 Shows class loader hierarchy and loaded class counts per loader.

╭─ Class Loaders ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ──────────────────────────────────╮
│ <bootstrap>                                                                  │
│ reflect.DelegatingClassLoader                                                │
│ ClassLoaders.PlatformClassLoader                                             │
│ ClassLoaders.AppClassLoader                                                  │
│ classloader.VisitableURLClassLoader                                          │
│ classloader.VisitableURLClassLoader                                          │
│ reflect.DelegatingClassLoader                                                │
│ initialization.MixInLegacyTypesClassLoader                                   │
│ classloader.FilteringClassLoader                                             │
│ classloader.VisitableURLClassLoader                                          │
│ classloader.FilteringClassLoader                                             │
│ classloader.CachingClassLoader                                               │
│ classloader.VisitableURLClassLoader                                          │
│ VisitableURLClassLoader.InstrumentingVisitableURLClassLoader                 │
│ classloader.VisitableURLClassLoader                                          │
│ reflect.DelegatingClassLoader                                                │
│                                                                              │
│ Total loaded classes: 0                                                      │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus jfr <pid> <subcommand>

Controls JDK Flight Recorder — start, stop, check, and dump recordings.

$ argus jfr 39113 check

 argus jfr check
 Controls JDK Flight Recorder: start, stop, check, and dump recordings.

╭─ Flight Recorder ── pid:39113 ── cmd:check ──────────────────────────────────╮
│ Status:   ok                                                                 │
│                                                                              │
│ 39113:                                                                       │
│                                                                              │
│ 39113:                                                                       │
│ No available recordings.                                                     │
│ Use jcmd 39113 JFR.start to start a recording.                               │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Subcommands:

argus jfr <pid> start — Start recording (options: --duration=60, --file=output.jfr)
argus jfr <pid> stop — Stop active recording
argus jfr <pid> check — Show recording status
argus jfr <pid> dump — Dump recording to file (option: --file=dump.jfr)

argus info <pid>

Displays JVM runtime information, version, vendor, uptime, and VM flags.

$ argus info 39113

 argus info
 Displays JVM runtime details and configuration flags.

╭─ JVM Information ── pid:39113 ───────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ VM Name     39113:                                                           │
│ Version     OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM version 21.0.9                          │
│ Vendor      Homebrew                                                         │
│ Uptime      57m 3s                                                           │
│ PID         39113                                                            │
│                                                                              │
│ VM Flags:                                                                    │
│   -XX:CICompilerCount=4                                                      │
│   -XX:CompressedClassSpaceSize=335544320                                     │
│   -XX:ConcGCThreads=2                                                        │
│   -XX:G1ConcRefinementThreads=9                                              │
│   -XX:G1EagerReclaimRemSetThreshold=12                                       │
│   -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=1048576                                               │
│   -XX:G1RemSetArrayOfCardsEntries=12                                         │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus profile <pid>

CPU, allocation, lock, and wall-clock profiling powered by async-profiler. Auto-downloads the native binary on first use.

$ argus profile 29286 --duration 3

 argus profile
 Profiling with async-profiler. Shows hottest methods by sample count.

╭─ Profile Results ── pid:29286 ── cpu 3s ── 3 samples ────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│   #   Method                                           Samples        %      │
│   ────  ────────────────────────────────────────────  ──────────  ────────   │
│   1   __psynch_cvwait                                        2    66.7%  ███ │
│   2   std::__1::basic_ostream<char, std::__1::cha…           1    33.3%  █   │
│                                                                              │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Options:

--type cpu|alloc|lock|wall — Profiling type (default: cpu)
--duration N — Duration in seconds (default: 30)
--flame — Generate flame graph HTML and open in browser
--file NAME — Output file for flame graph
--top N — Show top N methods (default: 20)
--format=json — JSON output

Flame graph example:

$ argus profile 12345 --flame --duration 60
# Generates HTML flame graph and opens in browser

argus diff <pid> [interval]

Compares two heap snapshots to detect memory growth — useful for memory leak investigation.

$ argus diff 39113 5 --top 5

Takes a first snapshot, waits for the specified interval (default 10s), takes a second snapshot, and shows classes that grew.

Options:

Second argument: interval in seconds (default: 10)
--top N — Show top N growing classes (default: 20)

argus report <pid>

Comprehensive single-view diagnostic report collecting all available JVM metrics.

$ argus report 39113

 argus report
 Comprehensive JVM diagnostic report. Collects all available metrics in one view.

╭─ JVM Report ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ─────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│   ▸ JVM Info                                                                 │
│     39113: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM version 21.0.9    Uptime: 57m 5s         │
│                                                                              │
│   ▸ Memory                                                                   │
│     Heap    [███░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  41M / 256M  (16%)                            │
│     Free    215M                                                             │
│                                                                              │
│   ▸ GC                                                                       │
│     S0: 0%  S1: 0%  Eden: 0%  Old: 42%  Meta: 97%                            │
│                                                                              │
│   ▸ Threads                                                                  │
│     Total: 29    Virtual: 0    Platform: 29                                  │
│     TIMED_WAITING: 5  WAITING: 13  RUNNABLE: 11                              │
│                                                                              │
│   ▸ Top Heap Objects                                                         │
│     1. byte[]                111.0K instances   16M                          │
│     2. java.lang.String      107.2K instances   2M                           │
│     3. java.lang.Class       18.9K instances   2M                            │
│                                                                              │
│   ▸ Warnings                                                                 │
│     ⚠ Metaspace at 97% — near limit                                          │
│                                                                              │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Auto-detected warnings:

Heap usage > 85%
Old Gen > 85%
Metaspace > 90%
GC overhead > 2%
BLOCKED threads > 10%

argus top

Real-time terminal monitoring dashboard (requires Argus agent attached to the target JVM).

$ argus top
$ argus top --host 192.168.1.100 --port 9202 --interval 2

Options:

--host HOST — Argus agent host (default: localhost)
--port PORT — Argus agent port (default: 9202)
--interval N — Refresh interval in seconds (default: 1)

argus heapdump <pid>

Generates a heap dump (.hprof) file. Shows a Stop-The-World warning before proceeding.

$ argus heapdump 39113

Options:

--file=<path> — Output file path
--live — Live objects only (default)
--all — All objects including garbage
--yes — Skip confirmation prompt

argus deadlock <pid>

Detects Java-level deadlocks by analyzing thread dumps. Shows lock chains, held/waiting locks, and stack traces.

$ argus deadlock 39113

 argus deadlock
 Analyzes thread dumps to detect Java-level deadlocks. Shows lock chains and stack traces.

╭─ Deadlock Detection ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ─────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ ✔ No deadlocks detected                                                      │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

When deadlocks are found, shows:

Thread names and states
Lock addresses and classes (waiting/holding)
Top stack frame for each thread

argus env <pid>

Shows JVM launch environment: command line, java home, classpath, and VM arguments.

$ argus env 39113

 argus env
 Shows JVM launch environment: command line, java home, classpath, and VM arguments.

╭─ JVM Environment ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Command Line                                                                 │
│   com.example.MyApp --port 8080                                              │
│                                                                              │
│ Java Home:  /usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk                                     │
│ Working Dir:  /opt/myapp                                                     │
│ Classpath                                                                    │
│   /opt/myapp/lib/app.jar                                                     │
│                                                                              │
│ VM Arguments                                                                 │
│   -Xms128m                                                                   │
│   -Xmx2048m                                                                  │
│   -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError                                            │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus compiler <pid>

Shows JIT compiler status and code cache usage. High code cache usage may cause deoptimization.

$ argus compiler 39113

 argus compiler
 Shows JIT compiler status and code cache usage. High code cache usage may cause deoptimization.

╭─ JIT Compiler ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ───────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ ✔ Compilation enabled                                                        │
│                                                                              │
│ Code Cache  [█████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  233M / 1.0G  (23%)                      │
│   Max Used: 342M    Free: 791M                                               │
│                                                                              │
│ Blobs: 35.3K    nmethods: 32.9K    adapters: 2.3K                            │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Warnings:

Code cache usage > 80% — may trigger deoptimization

argus finalizer <pid>

Shows finalizer queue status and pending count. High pending count may indicate resource leak.

$ argus finalizer 39113

 argus finalizer
 Shows pending finalizers and finalizer thread state. High pending count may indicate resource leak.

╭─ Finalizer Queue ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ ✔ No pending finalizers                                                      │
│                                                                              │
│ Finalizer Thread:  WAITING                                                   │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Warnings:

Pending count > 100 — possible resource leak or slow finalization

argus stringtable <pid>

Shows interned string table statistics. Useful for tuning -XX:StringTableSize.

$ argus stringtable 39113

 argus stringtable
 Shows interned string table statistics. Useful for tuning -XX:StringTableSize.

╭─ String Table ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ───────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Category                   Count        Size                                 │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────────                                 │
│ Buckets                     4.3K          0B                                 │
│ Entries                    16.7K          0B                                 │
│ Literals                  242.8K         19M                                 │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────────                                 │
│ Total                                    24M                                 │
│                                                                              │
│ Avg literal size: 82.0 bytes                                                 │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus pool <pid>

Groups threads by pool name and shows state distribution per pool.

$ argus pool 39113

 argus pool
 Groups threads by pool name and shows state distribution per pool.

╭─ Thread Pools ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ───────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Threads: 83    Pools: 12                                                     │
│                                                                              │
│ Pool Name                      Count  State                                  │
│ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────   │
│ DefaultDispatcher-worker          15  TWAIT:15                               │
│ (JVM Internal)                     6  WAIT:1 RUN:4 TWAIT:1                   │
│ ForkJoinPool.commonPool            4  WAIT:3 RUN:1                           │
│ pool-1                             3  RUN:1 WAIT:2                           │
│ (JIT Compiler)                     2  RUN:2                                  │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Options:

--top N — Show top N pools

argus gccause <pid>

Shows last and current GC cause alongside generation utilization stats. Root-cause analysis for unexpected GC pauses.

$ argus gccause 39113

 argus gccause
 Shows last and current GC cause alongside generation utilization.

╭─ GC Cause ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ───────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Last GC Cause:     Humongous Allocation                                      │
│ Current GC Cause:  No GC                                                     │
│                                                                              │
│   Eden  [█████████████░░░░░░░]   62.8%                                       │
│   Old   [███████████████████░]   94.5%                                       │
│   Meta  [████████████████████]   98.8%                                       │
│                                                                              │
│ YGC: 236 (2.380s)    FGC: 6 (1.105s)    GCT: 7.897s                         │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus metaspace <pid>

Shows detailed metaspace breakdown by space type (Class/Non-Class). Requires Java 16+.

$ argus metaspace 39113

 argus metaspace
 Shows metaspace usage breakdown by space type (Class/Non-Class).

╭─ Metaspace ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ──────────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Used  [████████████████████]  548M / 555M  (99%)                             │
│   Reserved: 1.5G                                                             │
│                                                                              │
│ Space                 Used   Committed    Reserved                           │
│ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────                           │
│ Non-Class             478M        481M        512M                           │
│ Class                  70M         73M        1.0G                           │
│                                                                              │
│ ⚠ Metaspace usage high — possible classloader leak                           │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus dynlibs <pid>

Lists native libraries loaded in the JVM process, grouped by category (JDK/App/System).

$ argus dynlibs 39113

Options:

--filter=<pattern> — Filter library paths

argus vmset <pid> Flag=value

Sets a manageable VM flag on a live JVM without restart. Requires confirmation unless --yes is passed.

$ argus vmset 39113 HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError=true --yes

Options:

--yes — Skip confirmation prompt

argus vmlog <pid> [options]

Controls JVM unified logging (GC, JIT, safepoint) on a running JVM without restart.

# Show current log configuration
$ argus vmlog 39113

# Enable GC logging to stdout
$ argus vmlog 39113 what=gc=info output=#0

# Enable JIT compilation logging
$ argus vmlog 39113 what=jit+compilation=debug

argus jmx <pid> [subcommand]

Controls JMX Management Agent. Enables VisualVM/JConsole to connect to a running JVM.

# Check status
$ argus jmx 39113

# Start local JMX (same-host only)
$ argus jmx 39113 start-local

# Start remote JMX
$ argus jmx 39113 start --port=9999 --no-auth --no-ssl

# Stop JMX agent
$ argus jmx 39113 stop

Subcommands:

status (default) — Show JMX agent status
start-local — Start local-only JMX agent
start — Start remote JMX agent (opens network port)
stop — Stop JMX agent

argus classstat <pid>

Shows class loading throughput: loaded/unloaded counts, bytes, and time spent.

$ argus classstat 39113

 argus classstat
 Shows class loading throughput: loaded/unloaded counts, bytes consumed, and time spent.

╭─ Class Loading ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ──────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Loaded:    112.0K  (220722.8 KB)                                             │
│ Unloaded:  3.4K  (4372.5 KB)                                                │
│                                                                              │
│ Net:       108.7K                                                            │
│ Time:      20.510s                                                           │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus gcnew <pid>

Shows young gen detail: survivor spaces, tenuring threshold, eden usage. Useful for tuning MaxTenuringThreshold.

$ argus gcnew 39113

 argus gcnew
 Shows young gen detail: survivor spaces, tenuring threshold, eden usage.

╭─ Young Generation ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ───────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│   Eden  [█░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  11M / 350M  (3%)                                │
│   S0    [░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  0B / 0B  (0%)                                   │
│   S1    [░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░]  0B / 0B  (0%)                                   │
│                                                                              │
│ Tenuring Threshold:  15 / 15                                                 │
│ Desired Survivor:        23M                                                 │
│                                                                              │
│ YGC: 328  (3.104s)                                                           │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus symboltable <pid>

Shows JVM symbol table statistics (class/method/field names). Complements stringtable.

$ argus symboltable 39113

 argus symboltable
 Shows JVM symbol table statistics (class/method/field names). Complements stringtable.

╭─ Symbol Table ── pid:39113 ── source:auto ───────────────────────────────────╮
│                                                                              │
│ Category                   Count        Size                                 │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────────                                 │
│ Buckets                    20.4K          0B                                 │
│ Entries                    77.5K          0B                                 │
│ Literals                    1.3M         95M                                 │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────────                                 │
│ Total                                   117M                                 │
│                                                                              │
│ Avg literal size: 76.0 bytes                                                 │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

argus init

First-time setup wizard. Prompts you to select the default output language (en/ko/ja/zh) and saves the preference to ~/.argus/config.properties.

$ argus init

 argus init
 First-time setup: select your preferred output language.

? Select language [en/ko/ja/zh]: ko
✔ Language set to: ko
  Config saved to: /Users/you/.argus/config.properties

After running argus init, all subsequent commands use the chosen language by default. Override any time with --lang=<code>.

JSON Output

All commands support --format=json for scripting and pipeline integration:

$ argus --format=json gc 39113

{"totalEvents":0,"totalPauseMs":0.0,"overheadPercent":0.0,"lastCause":"","heapUsed":56849408,"heapCommitted":268435456,"collectors":[{"name":"g1 gc","count":0,"totalMs":0.0}]}

Multi-language Support

Set the output language with --lang or configure it with argus init:

$ argus --lang=ko histo 39113 --top 3

Supported languages: English (en), Korean (ko), Japanese (ja), Chinese (zh)

argus doctor

One-click JVM health diagnosis with actionable recommendations and JVM flag suggestions.

$ argus doctor

Cross-correlates GC, memory, CPU, threads, and buffer metrics to produce severity-rated findings.

Health checks (8 rules):

Rule	What it detects	Thresholds
GC Overhead	Excessive GC time	warn > 5%, critical > 15%
Heap Pressure	Heap/old gen saturation	warn > 75%, critical > 92%
Thread Contention	Deadlocks, blocked threads	deadlock = critical, blocked > 5 = warn
Metaspace	ClassLoader leaks	warn > 80%, critical > 95%
Direct Buffers	NIO buffer leaks	warn > 200MB, critical > 800MB
CPU Usage	Process CPU saturation	warn > 70%, critical > 90%
Finalizer Queue	Backed-up finalization	warn > 100, critical > 1000
GC Algorithm	Suboptimal GC choice	Serial on large heap, Full GC frequency

Exit codes for CI/CD: 0 = healthy, 1 = warnings, 2 = critical.

# CI/CD integration
argus doctor --format=json || alert "JVM unhealthy"

argus gclog

Analyze GC log files with pause distribution, cause breakdown, and tuning recommendations. Free alternative to GCEasy.io.

$ argus gclog /var/log/gc.log
$ argus gclog gc.log --suggest-flags    # output only JVM flags
$ argus gclog gc.log --format=json      # CI/CD integration

Supported formats: JDK 9+ unified logging (-Xlog:gc*) and JDK 8 legacy (-XX:+PrintGCDetails). Auto-detected.

Output sections:

Summary — duration, event count, throughput %
Pause Distribution — p50, p95, p99, max with ASCII histogram
Heap — peak usage, avg after GC
Cause Breakdown — per-cause count/avg/max table
Tuning Recommendations — severity-rated with specific JVM flags

Tuning rules (7):

Pattern	Recommendation
Full GC detected	Increase `-Xmx`
Throughput < 95%	Increase heap or switch GC
p99 > 200ms	`-XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200` or ZGC
Humongous allocations	`-XX:G1HeapRegionSize=16m`
Metaspace GC	`-XX:MaxMetaspaceSize=512m`
Allocation failures	`-XX:NewRatio=2`
Max pause > 1s	`-XX:+UseZGC`

argus flame

One-shot flame graph generation. Profiles for N seconds, generates interactive HTML, and opens in browser.

$ argus flame 12345                      # 10s CPU, open browser
$ argus flame 12345 --duration 30        # 30 seconds
$ argus flame 12345 --type alloc         # allocation flame graph
$ argus flame 12345 --type lock          # lock contention flame graph
$ argus flame 12345 --output flame.html  # save to specific file
$ argus flame 12345 --no-open            # don't open browser

Options:

Option	Default	Description
`--duration N`	10	Profiling duration in seconds
`--type`	cpu	Profile type: `cpu`, `alloc`, `lock`, `wall`
`--output`	`/tmp/argus-flame-<pid>.html`	Output file path
`--no-open`	false	Skip browser auto-open

Uses async-profiler under the hood. Auto-downloads if not present.

argus watch

Real-time terminal dashboard — htop for JVM. Updates in-place using ANSI escape codes.

$ argus watch                    # monitor local JVM, 2s refresh
$ argus watch --interval=5       # 5 second refresh

Display:

Heap/Old/Metaspace with color progress bars and sparkline history
CPU usage with processor count
GC stats with overhead % (green/yellow/red)
Thread summary: total/runnable/waiting/blocked/deadlocked
NIO direct buffer usage
Class loading stats

Controls: q = quit, r = force refresh.

argus suggest

JVM flag optimization based on workload analysis. Auto-detects workload type or accepts --profile override.

$ argus suggest                        # auto-detect workload
$ argus suggest --profile=web          # optimize for web server
$ argus suggest --profile=batch        # optimize for batch processing
$ argus suggest --profile=microservice # optimize for microservice
$ argus suggest --profile=streaming    # optimize for streaming
$ argus suggest --format=json          # JSON output

Workload profiles:

Profile	Optimizes for	Key suggestions
`web`	Low latency, consistent response times	G1GC/ZGC, MaxGCPauseMillis
`batch`	Maximum throughput	ParallelGC, GC thread tuning
`microservice`	Fast startup, low memory	SerialGC for small heaps, CDS
`streaming`	Steady allocation rate	G1GC, TLAB sizing

Includes a copy-paste ready flag summary at the bottom of output.

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Argus CLI Command Reference

Global Options

argus ps

argus histo <pid>

argus threads <pid>

argus gc <pid>

argus gcutil <pid>

argus heap <pid>

argus sysprops <pid>

argus vmflag <pid>

argus nmt <pid>

argus classloader <pid>

argus jfr <pid> <subcommand>

argus info <pid>

argus profile <pid>

argus diff <pid> [interval]

argus report <pid>

argus top

argus heapdump <pid>

argus deadlock <pid>

argus env <pid>

argus compiler <pid>

argus finalizer <pid>

argus stringtable <pid>

argus pool <pid>

argus gccause <pid>

argus metaspace <pid>

argus dynlibs <pid>

argus vmset <pid> Flag=value

argus vmlog <pid> [options]

argus jmx <pid> [subcommand]

argus classstat <pid>

argus gcnew <pid>

argus symboltable <pid>

argus init

JSON Output

Multi-language Support

argus doctor

argus gclog

argus flame

argus watch

argus suggest