System Monitor

A powerful, configurable system monitoring tool built in Rust that provides real-time insights into your system's performance.

Features

• Real-time Monitoring: CPU, memory, disk, and process monitoring
• Color-coded Progress Bars: Visual representation of system usage
• Configurable Thresholds: Custom warning and critical levels
• Alert System: Automatic alerts with logging when thresholds are exceeded
• Multiple Display Modes: Continuous monitoring, one-time summary, or single run
• Professional Output: Clean, organized display with timestamps
• Cross-platform: Works on Linux, macOS, and Windows

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.70 or later
• Cargo (comes with Rust)

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/system-monitor.git
cd system-monitor
cargo build --release

Run Directly

cargo run

Usage

Basic Commands

# Default continuous monitoring (30-second intervals)
cargo run

# Generate configuration file
cargo run -- generate-config

# One-time system summary
cargo run -- summary

# Explicit monitor mode
cargo run -- monitor

# Run once and exit
cargo run -- --once

# Custom config file
cargo run -- --config custom.toml

# Help and version
cargo run -- --help
cargo run -- --version

Configuration

Generate a configuration file to customize thresholds and display options:

cargo run -- generate-config

This creates a config.toml file with the following structure:

[general]
refresh_interval = 30
log_alerts = true
log_file = "system_monitor.log"

[display]
show_progress_bars = true
use_colors = true
show_per_core_cpu = true
max_processes_to_display = 10

[thresholds]
cpu_warning = 70.0
cpu_critical = 90.0
memory_warning = 70.0
memory_critical = 90.0
disk_warning = 70.0
disk_critical = 90.0
swap_warning = 70.0
swap_critical = 90.0

[alerts]
enable_desktop_notifications = false
enable_email_alerts = false
enable_sound_alerts = false

Sample Output

================================================
       System Monitor - 2025-08-08 15:30:45
================================================

CPU INFORMATION
Overall Usage: [####----------------]   21.5%
Per Core:
  Core  0: [########------------]   40.9%
  Core  1: [#######-------------]   38.1%
  Core  2: [######--------------]   33.5%
  Core  3: [######--------------]   30.5%

MEMORY INFORMATION
RAM Usage:  [################----]   80.2%
Total:      8.0 GB
Used:       6.4 GB
Available:  1.6 GB

DISK INFORMATION
Mount: / [##############------]   73.3%
  Total: 460.4 GB | Used: 337.6 GB | Free: 122.9 GB

TOP PROCESSES
PID      NAME                 CPU%     MEMORY    
--------------------------------------------------
1234     chrome               15.2%    512.3MB
5678     firefox              8.1%     256.1MB

SYSTEM INFORMATION
OS:         Darwin
Hostname:   MacBookAir
Uptime:     1647h 1m
Load Avg:   2.56, 3.57, 3.71

Press Ctrl+C to exit...

Color Coding

• Green: Normal usage (below warning threshold)
• Yellow: Warning level (above warning, below critical)
• Red: Critical level (above critical threshold)

Alert System

When thresholds are exceeded, alerts are:

• Logged to console
• Written to log file (if enabled)
• Can trigger desktop notifications (configurable)

Dependencies

• sysinfo - System information gathering
• clap - Command-line argument parsing
• serde & toml - Configuration file handling
• colored - Terminal color output
• chrono - Date and time handling
• log & env_logger - Logging functionality
• crossterm - Cross-platform terminal manipulation

Development

Project Structure

system-monitor/
├── src/
│   └── main.rs          # Main application code
├── Cargo.toml           # Project dependencies
├── config.toml          # Configuration file (generated)
├── README.md            # This file
└── .gitignore          # Git ignore rules

Building

# Debug build
cargo build

# Release build (optimized)
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

# Check code without building
cargo check

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a 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

License

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

Roadmap

• Network bandwidth monitoring
• Docker container monitoring
• Web dashboard interface
• Email alert notifications
• Historical data logging
• Plugin system for custom metrics
• JSON/CSV export functionality

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

High memory usage alerts on macOS: This is often normal due to macOS memory management. Adjust thresholds in config.toml if needed.

Permission denied errors: Some system information requires elevated privileges on certain platforms.

Missing dependencies: Ensure you have the latest Rust toolchain installed.

Acknowledgments

• Built with sysinfo for cross-platform system information
• Inspired by traditional monitoring tools like htop and top
• Thanks to the Rust community for excellent crates and documentation