Process Management

Find and control running processes

Process management made simple. No more grepping through ps output.

Modern Process Viewer

If procs is installed, it's used automatically for enhanced output with colors and better formatting.

pme — My Processes

Show processes owned by current user:

pme
# Lists your processes
# Uses procs if available, falls back to ps

Filters out system processes you don't care about.

ptree — Process Tree

Hierarchical process view:

ptree
# Shows parent-child process relationships
# Useful for understanding process spawning

See what spawned what. Great for debugging daemon issues.

pwatch — Live Monitoring

Continuous process monitoring:

pwatch
# Like top, but filtered to your processes
# Refreshes automatically
# Ctrl-C to exit

Finding Processes

pfind — Search by Name

Find processes by name pattern:

pfind node
# Lists all processes matching "node"
# Shows PID, CPU%, memory, command

Case-insensitive search through process names and arguments.

pgrep_custom — Full Command Search

Search through complete command lines:

pgrep_custom webpack
# Shows full command line for matching processes
# Useful when process names aren't unique

Resource Usage

pmem — Top Memory Users

Top 10 processes by memory:

pmem
# Sorted by memory usage descending
# Shows: PID, %MEM, RSS, COMMAND

First command to run when system feels sluggish and you suspect memory issues.

pcpu — Top CPU Users

Top 10 processes by CPU:

pcpu
# Sorted by CPU usage descending
# Shows: PID, %CPU, COMMAND

Find what's burning your CPU.

Killing Processes

pk — Pattern Kill

Kill processes matching a pattern:

pk node
# Finds all processes matching "node"
# Asks for confirmation
# Kills them (SIGTERM)

Safer than killall because it shows you what it's about to kill.

fkill — Interactive Kill (fzf)

Multi-select processes to kill:

fkill
# fzf interface showing all processes
# Tab to multi-select
# Enter to kill selected (SIGTERM)

Most user-friendly way to kill processes. See what you're killing before you kill it.

Workflows

Find and Kill a Process

# Find it
pfind runaway-app
# Note the PID

# Kill it
kill 12345

# Or use pattern kill
pk runaway-app

# Or interactive
fkill
# Search, select, kill

Debug Resource Issues

# High memory usage?
pmem
# Check top consumers

# High CPU usage?
pcpu
# Find the culprit

# Both?
htop  # Or use a proper monitoring tool

Monitor Process Over Time

# Watch specific process
watch -n 1 'ps aux | grep myapp'

# Or use pwatch for all your processes
pwatch

# For serious monitoring
htop  # Interactive
btop  # Modern alternative

Kill Stubborn Process

# Try gentle termination first
kill 12345

# Wait a few seconds...

# Still running? Force it
kill -9 12345

# Or use pk with force
pk -9 pattern

Find Process Using a File

# What's using this file?
lsof /path/to/file

# What's using this directory?
lsof +D /path/to/dir

# Who has the camera?
lsof | grep -i camera

Debug Zombie Processes

# Find zombies
ps aux | grep Z

# Find their parent
ps -o ppid= -p <zombie-pid>

# Kill the parent (zombies can't be killed directly)
kill <parent-pid>

Pro Tips

Use fkill for safety: Interactive selection prevents accidents. See what you're killing.

pmem and pcpu first: Before opening htop, run these. Often they're all you need.

Pattern matching is powerful: pk node kills all node processes. Use carefully.

SIGTERM before SIGKILL: Let processes clean up. Only use -9 when necessary.

Watch for memory leaks: If a process's memory keeps growing, it's probably leaking. Restart it.

htop/btop for continuous monitoring: These scripts are for quick checks. Use proper tools for extended monitoring.

Zombie processes: Can't be killed directly. Kill their parent process.

Use lsof for file locks: "File in use" errors? lsof shows what has it open.

Parent-child relationships matter: Use ptree to understand process hierarchies before killing things.