asitop

Performance monitoring CLI tool for Apple Silicon

# Install this custom fork using uv (Recommended)
uv tool install git+[https://github.com/DanVicenteIhanus/asitop.git](https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/asitop.git)

# Or install using pip
pip install git+[https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/asitop.git](https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/asitop.git)

What is asitop

A Python-based nvtop-inspired command line tool for Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs.

• Utilization info:
  • CPU (E-cluster and P-cluster), GPU
  • Frequency and utilization
  • ANE utilization (measured by power)
• Memory info:
  • RAM and swap, size and usage
  • (Apple removed memory bandwidth from powermetrics)
• Power info:
  • CPU power, GPU power (Apple removed package power from powermetrics)
  • Chart for CPU/GPU power
  • Peak power, rolling average display
• NEW: Minimal GPU-only mode (--gpu_only) for a distraction-free GPU gauge and power chart.

asitop uses the built-in powermetrics utility on macOS, which allows access to a variety of hardware performance counters. Note that it requires sudo to run due to powermetrics needing root access to run. asitop is lightweight and has minimal performance impact.

asitop only works on Apple Silicon Macs!

Installation and Usage

asitop is a Python-based command line tool. This fork is best installed globally using uv. After installation, you can use it via the Terminal.

# to enter password before start
# this mode is recommended!
sudo asitop

# start in minimal GPU-only mode
sudo asitop --gpu_only

# it will prompt password on start
asitop

# advanced options
asitop [-h] [--interval INTERVAL] [--color COLOR] [--avg AVG] [--gpu_only]
optional arguments:
  -h, --help           show this help message and exit
  --interval INTERVAL  Display interval and sampling interval for powermetrics (seconds)
  --color COLOR        Choose display color (0~8)
  --avg AVG            Interval for averaged values (seconds)
  --gpu_only           Show only GPU usage and power

How it works

powermetrics is used to measure the following:

• CPU/GPU utilization via active residency
• CPU/GPU frequency
• Package/CPU/GPU/ANE energy consumption
• CPU/GPU/Media Total memory bandwidth via the DCS (DRAM Command Scheduler)

psutil is used to measure the following:

• memory and swap usage

sysctl is used to measure the following:

• CPU name
• CPU core counts

system_profiler is used to measure the following:

• GPU core count

Some information is guesstimate and hardcoded as there doesn't seem to be an official source for it on the system:

• CPU/GPU TDP
• CPU/GPU maximum memory bandwidth
• ANE max power
• Media engine max bandwidth

Why the fork

Because I use Asitop from time to time to monitor hardware usage, but typically am only interested in the GPU. So wanted a minimal GUI, to just monitor the GPU.

Disclaimers

I did this randomly don't blame me if it fried your new MacBook or something.