Master Linux Resource Monitoring with Bashtop: Installation & Usage Guide

What Is Bashtop?

Bashtop is a terminal‑based resource‑monitoring utility for Linux (also available on macOS and FreeBSD) that presents CPU, memory, running processes and network bandwidth statistics in a colorful, game‑style UI, making it easy to track system performance.

Prerequisites

Before installing Bashtop, ensure the following packages are present on your system:

Bash 4.4 or newer

Git

GNU coreutils

GNU sed, awk, grep, and ps

lm‑sensors (optional, for CPU temperature)

Manual Installation

Clone the repository and install from source:

$ git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/bashtop.git
$ cd bashtop
$ sudo make install

To uninstall:

$ sudo make uninstall

Distribution‑Specific Installation

Ubuntu

Two options are available: Snap or APT. $ snap install bashtop Or via the PPA:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bashtop-monitor/bashtop
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install bashtop

Debian

$ sudo apt install bashtop

Or build from source:

$ git clone https://github.com/aristocratos/bashtop.git
$ cd bashtop/
$ cd DEB
$ sudo ./build

Fedora

$ sudo dnf install bashtop

CentOS / RHEL 8

$ sudo yum install epel-release
$ sudo dnf install bashtop

Arch Linux

$ sudo pacman -S bashtop

Running Bashtop

Start the monitor with a single command:

$ bashtop

Configuration

The configuration file resides at ~/.config/bashtop/bashtop.cfg. Edit this file to customize colors, layout, and displayed metrics.

Press Esc then navigate with the down arrow to Help to view all keyboard shortcuts and menu options.

Conclusion

Bashtop provides an attractive way to monitor Linux system resources, offering more visual detail than traditional tools like top or htop. While it may be slightly slower and consume modest resources, its rich UI and ease of use make it a valuable addition to any sysadmin’s toolkit.