System Monitor
A VS Code status bar extension that displays real-time system metrics, similar to htop.
I used to use Resource Monitor but it has some bugs on my remote server and some new features I want, so I asked claude to make this new extension.
Supports Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Status Bar
⬡ 45% 〜 3.60GHz 🗄 8.24/15.59G 🗃 0.12/2.00G ▶ 3
| Item |
Default Icon |
Metric |
Platform |
cpu |
$(chip) |
CPU usage % |
All |
freq |
$(pulse) |
Average CPU frequency |
All |
mem |
$(server) |
Memory used / total (GB) |
All |
swp |
$(archive) |
Swap used / total (GB) |
All |
run |
$(run) |
Running processes |
All |
temp |
$(thermometer) |
CPU temperature (°C) |
Linux only |
fan |
$(dashboard) |
Fan speed (RPM) |
Linux only |
Click the status bar to open an htop-style panel with per-core CPU bars, memory/swap bars, load average, and uptime.
Settings
Ctrl+, → search System Monitor
systemMonitor.items
Controls which metrics appear and in what order. Remove an entry to hide it, reorder to rearrange.
"systemMonitor.items": ["cpu", "freq", "mem", "swp", "run"]
temp and fan are Linux-only and opt-in. freq is silently hidden on systems that don't report clock speed.
systemMonitor.icons
Codicon name for each item. Use any name from microsoft.github.io/vscode-codicons (without the $() wrapper). Set to "" to show no icon.
"systemMonitor.icons": {
"cpu": "chip",
"freq": "pulse",
"mem": "server",
"swp": "archive",
"run": "run",
"temp": "thermometer",
"fan": "dashboard"
}
All settings apply instantly without restarting.
Build
bash build.sh # builds inside Docker, outputs system-monitor-x.x.x.vsix
Install
code --install-extension system-monitor-0.0.3.vsix
Requirements
- Linux — reads
/proc, /sys/class/hwmon, /sys/devices/system/cpu/*/cpufreq/
- macOS — uses
os module + sysctl for swap
- Windows — uses
os module + PowerShell for swap (cached every 10s)
