--- name: "btm" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "bottom" version: "0.15.0-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/btm" --- # btm(1) A customizable cross-platform graphical process/system monitor for the terminal. Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows. ## NAME btm - A customizable cross-platform graphical process/system monitor for the terminal. Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows. ## SYNOPSIS **btm** \[OPTIONS\] ## DESCRIPTION A customizable cross-platform graphical process/system monitor for the terminal. Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows. ## GENERAL OPTIONS - **--autohide\_time** Automatically hides the time scale in graphs after being shown for a brief moment when zoomed in/out. If time is disabled using --hide\_time then this will have no effect. - **-b**, **--basic** Hides graphs and uses a more basic look, largely inspired by htop's design. - **-C**, **--config\_location** *\* Sets the location of the config file. Expects a config file in the TOML format. If it doesn't exist, a default config file is created at the path. If no path is provided, the default config location will be used. - **-t**, **--default\_time\_value** *\* Default time value for graphs. Either a number in milliseconds or a 'human duration' (e.g. 60s, 10m). Defaults to 60s, must be at least 30s. - **--default\_widget\_count** *\* Sets the N'th selected widget type to use as the default widget. Requires 'default\_widget\_type' to also be set, and defaults to 1. This reads from left to right, top to bottom. For example, suppose we have a layout that looks like: +-------------------+-----------------------+ \| CPU (1) \| CPU (2) \| +---------+---------+-------------+---------+ \| Process \| CPU (3) \| Temperature \| CPU (4) \| +---------+---------+-------------+---------+ And we set our default widget type to 'CPU'. If we set '--default\_widget\_count 1', then it would use the CPU (1) as the default widget. If we set '--default\_widget\_count 3', it would use CPU (3) as the default instead. - **--default\_widget\_type** *\* Sets which widget type to use as the default widget. For the default layout, this defaults to the 'process' widget. For a custom layout, it defaults to the first widget it sees. For example, suppose we have a layout that looks like: +-------------------+-----------------------+ \| CPU (1) \| CPU (2) \| +---------+---------+-------------+---------+ \| Process \| CPU (3) \| Temperature \| CPU (4) \| +---------+---------+-------------+---------+ Then, setting '--default\_widget\_type temperature' will make the temperature widget selected by default.\ *Possible values:* - • cpu - • mem - • net - • network - • proc - • process - • processes - • temp - • temperature - • disk - • batt - • battery - **--disable\_click** Disables mouse clicks from interacting with bottom. - **--disable\_keys** Disables keyboard shortcuts from interacting with bottom. Note this includes keyboard shortcuts to quit bottom. - **-m**, **--dot\_marker** Uses a dot marker for graphs as opposed to the default braille marker. - **-e**, **--expanded** Expand the default widget upon starting the app. This flag has no effect in basic mode (--basic). - **--hide\_time** Hides the time scale from being shown. - **-r**, **--rate** *\* Sets how often data is refreshed. Either a number in milliseconds or a 'human duration' (e.g. 1s, 1m). Defaults to 1s, must be at least 250ms. Smaller values may result in higher system resource usage. - **--retention** *\* How far back data will be stored up to. Either a number in milliseconds or a 'human duration' (e.g. 10m, 1h). Defaults to 10 minutes, and must be at least 1 minute. Larger values may result in higher memory usage. - **--show\_table\_scroll\_position** Shows the list scroll position tracker in the widget title for table widgets. - **-d**, **--time\_delta** *\* The amount of time changed when zooming in/out. Takes a number in milliseconds or a human duration (e.g. 30s). The minimum is 1s, and defaults to 15s. ## PROCESS OPTIONS - **-S**, **--case\_sensitive** Enables case sensitivity by default when searching for a process. - **-u**, **--current\_usage** Calculates process CPU usage as a percentage of current usage rather than total usage. - **--disable\_advanced\_kill** Hides additional stopping options on Unix-like systems. Signal 15 (TERM) will be sent when stopping a process. - **--read\_only** Prevents performing any actions that affect the system. Disables operations such as stopping or sending signals to processes. - **--hide\_k\_threads** Hide kernel threads. - **--get\_threads** Also gather process thread information. - **--process\_default\_sort** *\* Sets the default sort column for the process widget. Accepts any of the valid process column names (e.g. "cpu%", "mem", "pid", "name"). Overrides the \[processes\] default\_sort setting in the config file. - **-g**, **--group\_processes** Groups processes with the same name by default when searching. Doesn't do anything if --tree is also set, or tree=true in the config. - **--process\_memory\_as\_value** Defaults to showing process memory usage by value. Otherwise, it defaults to showing it by percentage. - **--process\_command** Shows the full command name instead of the process name by default. - **-R**, **--regex** Enables regex by default while searching. - **-T**, **--tree** Makes the process widget use tree mode by default. - **--tree\_collapse** Collapse process tree by default. - **-n**, **--unnormalized\_cpu** Show process CPU% usage without averaging over the number of CPU cores. - **-W**, **--whole\_word** Enables whole-word matching by default while searching. ## TEMPERATURE OPTIONS - **-c**, **--celsius** Use Celsius as the temperature unit. This is the default option. - **-f**, **--fahrenheit** Use Fahrenheit as the temperature unit. - **-k**, **--kelvin** Use Kelvin as the temperature unit. ## CPU OPTIONS - **-l**, **--cpu\_left\_legend** Puts the CPU chart legend on the left side. - **--default\_cpu\_entry** *\* Sets which CPU entry type is selected by default.\ *Possible values:* - • all - • avg - **-a**, **--hide\_avg\_cpu** Hides the average CPU usage entry. ## MEMORY OPTIONS - **--memory\_legend** *\* Where to place the legend for the memory chart widget.\ *Possible values:* - • none - • top-left - • top - • top-right - • left - • right - • bottom-left - • bottom - • bottom-right - **--enable\_cache\_memory** Enables collecting and displaying cache and buffer memory. - **--free\_arc** Subtract reclaimable ARC from memory. - **--short\_gpu\_names** Use short GPU names (e.g. 'GPU' or 'GPU0', 'GPU1') in the memory widget instead of full GPU names. ## NETWORK OPTIONS - **--network\_legend** *\* Where to place the legend for the network chart widget.\ *Possible values:* - • none - • top-left - • top - • top-right - • left - • right - • bottom-left - • bottom - • bottom-right - **--network\_use\_bytes** Displays the network widget using bytes. Defaults to bits. - **--network\_use\_binary\_prefix** Displays the network widget binary prefixes (e.g. GiB, MiB) instead of decimal prefixes (e.g. GB, MB). - **--network\_use\_log** Displays the network widget with a log scale. Defaults to a non-log scale. - **--use\_old\_network\_legend** (DEPRECATED) Uses separate network widget legend. This display is not tested and may be broken. - **--show\_packets** Displays packets information including packet rate (packets per second) and average packet size in the network widget. - **--network\_start\_zeroed** Zeroes out the total network usage ("All") counters so it shows the total usage since the app is started, rather than the total usage since boot. ## DISK OPTIONS - **--disk\_use\_binary\_prefix** Displays the disk widget with binary prefixes (e.g. GiB, MiB) instead of decimal prefixes (e.g. GB, MB). ## BATTERY OPTIONS - **--battery** Shows the battery widget in default or basic mode, if there is as battery available. This has no effect on custom layouts; if the battery widget is desired for a custom layout, explicitly specify it. ## GPU OPTIONS - **--disable\_gpu** Disable collecting and displaying NVIDIA and AMD GPU information. ## STYLE OPTIONS - **--theme** *\* Use a pre-defined colour theme. Currently supported themes are: - default - default-light (default but adjusted for lighter backgrounds) - gruvbox (a bright theme with 'retro groove' colours) - gruvbox-light (gruvbox but adjusted for lighter backgrounds) - nord (an arctic, north-bluish colour palette) - nord-light (nord but adjusted for lighter backgrounds) ## OTHER OPTIONS - **-h**, **--help** Prints help info (for more details use '--help'). - **-V**, **--version** Prints version information. ## VERSION v0.15.0 ## AUTHORS Clement Tsang \