A native Windows clone of htop - the beloved interactive process viewer, rebuilt from the ground up in Rust.

Inspired by the original htop by Hisham Muhammad and contributors.

Windows Task Manager is fine, but power users deserve better. htop-win brings the beloved Unix htop experience to Windows with:

• Blazing fast performance - Direct Windows API calls, no wrappers
• Tiny footprint - ~500KB binary with minimal dependencies
• Full htop compatibility - Same keyboard shortcuts you already know
• Windows-native features - Efficiency Mode, CPU affinity, elevation detection
• Automatic updates - Background update checks with one-command upgrades

• Per-core CPU usage with color-coded gradient bars (green → yellow → red)
• Memory and swap usage visualization
• System uptime and task count display
• Configurable meter modes: Bar, Text, Graph, or Hidden

• 18 sortable columns: PID, CPU%, MEM%, TIME+, Command, User, and more
• Tree view: Visualize parent-child process relationships with collapsible branches
• Search & Filter: Find processes instantly with live search
• Process tagging: Select multiple processes for batch operations
• Kill processes: Graceful termination or force kill
• Priority control: Change process priority class (Idle → Realtime)
• CPU affinity: Pin processes to specific CPU cores

• Efficiency Mode (EcoQoS): Reduce power consumption for background processes
• Elevation detection: See which processes run as Administrator
• Architecture display: Identify x86, x64, and ARM64 processes
• Service account support: View SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE processes
• Modified executable detection: Highlight processes with changed/deleted binaries

• Click to select, double-click for details
• Right-click to tag processes
• Click column headers to sort
• Scroll wheel navigation
• Click meters to cycle display modes

• 8 color themes: Default, Monochrome, Light Terminal, Midnight, Nord, and more
• Configurable columns: Show/hide and reorder any column
• Adjustable refresh rate: 100ms to 5 seconds
• Persistent settings: Configuration saved to %APPDATA%\htop-win\config

Download the latest release for your architecture:

Run with administrator privileges to install globally:

.\htop-win-amd64.exe --install

This installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\WindowsApps\htop.exe, making htop available from any terminal.

Check for updates and install automatically:

htop --update

Or force reinstall the current version:

htop --update --force

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/faratech/htop-win.git
cd htop-win

# Build optimized release (~500KB binary)
cargo build --release

# Run
.\target\release\htop-win.exe

Requirements: Rust 1.85+ (2024 edition), Windows 10/11

htop-win [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -d, --delay <MS>          Refresh rate in milliseconds [default: 1500]
  -u, --user <USER>         Show only processes from this user
  -p, --pid <PID,...>       Show only these PIDs (comma-separated)
  -s, --sort <COLUMN>       Sort by: pid, cpu, mem, time, command, user
  -t, --tree                Start in tree view mode
  -F, --filter <STRING>     Initial filter string
  -H, --highlight <SECS>    Highlight new processes for N seconds
  -n, --iterations <N>      Exit after N updates (for scripting)
      --no-color            Monochrome mode
      --no-mouse            Disable mouse support
      --no-meters           Hide header meters
      --readonly            Disable kill/priority operations
      --install             Install to PATH (requires admin)
      --update              Check for and install updates
  -f, --force               Force install/update
  -h, --help                Show help
  -V, --version             Show version

# Monitor with 500ms refresh rate
htop -d 500

# Show only processes from current user
htop -u $env:USERNAME

# Start in tree view, sorted by memory
htop -t -s mem

# Filter to show only Chrome processes
htop -F chrome

# Monitor specific PIDs
htop -p 1234,5678,9012

htop-win saves settings to %APPDATA%\htop-win\config\config.json. Configure via the Setup menu (F2) or edit directly:

{
  "refresh_rate_ms": 1500,
  "tree_view_default": false,
  "color_scheme": "Default",
  "show_kernel_threads": false,
  "show_program_path": false,
  "highlight_new_processes": true,
  "highlight_large_numbers": true,
  "cpu_meter_mode": "Bar",
  "memory_meter_mode": "Bar",
  "visible_columns": ["PID", "USER", "PRI", "CPU%", "MEM%", "TIME+", "Command"],
  "mouse_enabled": true,
  "confirm_kill": true
}

Access via Setup (F2) → Color Scheme:

• Default - Classic htop colors
• Monochrome - No colors (accessibility)
• Black on White - Light theme
• Light Terminal - For light backgrounds
• Midnight - Dark blue theme
• Blacknight - Pure dark theme
• Broken Gray - Subtle grays
• Nord - Nord color palette

• OS: Windows 10 (1903+) or Windows 11
• Architecture: x64 (AMD64) or ARM64
• Terminal: Windows Terminal recommended (supports full color and Unicode)
• Privileges: Administrator recommended for full process visibility

Minimal dependency set optimized for small binary size:

No heavy frameworks: Custom terminal UI library (replaces ratatui), custom JSON parser (replaces serde).

htop-win is designed for efficiency:

• ~500KB binary - Minimal dependencies, LTO optimization
• Efficiency Mode by default - Runs with reduced CPU priority
• Smart caching - Minimizes Windows API calls
• Diff-based rendering - Only updates changed terminal cells
• Direct API access - No abstraction layers

Benchmark mode available: htop --benchmark 100

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

• htop - The original inspiration by Hisham Muhammad
• windows-rs - Excellent Windows API bindings
• crossterm - Cross-platform terminal library

Star this repo if you find it useful!
https://github.com/faratech/htop-win