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abtop Agent Session Monitor

A terminal dashboard for local AI coding sessions, tokens, context, limits, and ports.

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What does this agent do, and when should you use it?

abtop is a Rust terminal monitor that presents local AI coding sessions through a TUI, one-shot text output, and JSON snapshots. It discovers Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode sessions from local process and file state, including multiple Claude configuration profiles. The interface surfaces token usage, context-window percentage, status, Git state, child processes, listening ports, and selected session-specific data, with configurable themes, panels, and language. It runs as a CLI and as a library: consumers can use App to collect state and serialize Snapshot data without requiring API keys or authentication.

abtop discovers Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode sessions from local process state, files, and open-file metadata; for OpenCode, it reads the local opencode.db through sqlite3. It aggregates token counts, context-window percentage, rate limits, current task, Git state, child processes, and port metadata for its TUI. abtop --once prints one snapshot, while abtop --json produces a one-shot JSON snapshot for scripts. Library consumers create an App, call App::tick_no_summaries(), and call App::to_snapshot(interval_ms) for a serializable Snapshot; that refresh path never runs claude --print.

  1. A developer running Claude Code in several projects can compare session state, token use, and context-window pressure from one terminal screen.
  2. A Codex CLI user investigating a forgotten development server can inspect session child processes and open ports.
  3. An OpenCode user with sqlite3 installed can view local OpenCode sessions alongside Claude Code and Codex CLI sessions.
  4. A team building a local dashboard can consume a one-shot state export through abtop --json or the Snapshot library API.
  5. A tmux, cmux, or macOS iTerm2 user managing several panes can select a session and press Enter to jump to its terminal.

What are this agent's strengths and limitations?

Pros
  • Monitors Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode together, with local discovery that supports multiple active Claude profiles.
  • Offers both --json and the reusable App/Snapshot library interface for local scripts or dashboards.
  • Reports session-level token, context, limit, child-process, and port information rather than only host metrics.
  • Keeps mouse capture off by default for terminal selection and copy, while providing 12 built-in themes, including four colorblind-friendly options.
Limitations
  • OpenCode session discovery depends on sqlite3, so it cannot be monitored without that CLI.
  • Generating session summaries uses claude --print, which makes its own API call and affects Claude quota.
  • OpenCode lacks context-window percentage, current-task, and rate-limit data; Codex CLI lacks subagent and memory-status data.
  • The recommended terminal size is 120x40; panels hide below 80x24, and Windows reports LOAD as 0.

How do you install or deploy this agent?

On macOS or Linux, run curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/graykode/abtop/releases/latest/download/abtop-installer.sh | sh, or run cargo install abtop. On Windows, run powershell -c "irm https://github.com/graykode/abtop/releases/latest/download/abtop-installer.ps1 | iex"; cargo install abtop also works from a terminal with Git in PATH. OpenCode monitoring requires sqlite3; on Windows, install it with winget install SQLite.SQLite. Start the first working session with abtop.

How do you use this agent?

Run abtop for the interactive TUI, abtop --once for a single printed snapshot, or abtop --json for a one-shot JSON snapshot. abtop --setup installs the rate-limit collection hook; abtop --theme dracula selects a theme; and abtop --mouse enables mouse navigation. Configure theme, hidden_agents, claude_config_dirs, and language in ~/.config/abtop/config.toml.

How does this agent compare with similar options?

The README positions abtop as “like btop” for AI coding agents. In that framing, abtop is specialized for discovering local Claude Code, Codex CLI, and OpenCode sessions and presenting session token, context, rate-limit, process, and port data.

FAQ

Does it read prompts or send session data away?
It reads local files plus local process and open-file metadata. The TUI and --once output do not display file contents or prompt text. JSON snapshots can include bounded and redacted transcript-derived data that may still contain sensitive project context, so they should remain local and private.
Do I need API keys or authentication?
No API keys or authentication are required. The documented indirect network use is session-summary generation through claude --print.
Which operating systems are supported?
macOS, Linux, and native Windows are documented; Windows does not require WSL.
Can I monitor only one coding CLI?
Yes. Set hidden_agents in ~/.config/abtop/config.toml to hide selected agent CLIs, such as codex.

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