Install bpytop with Homebrew, apt, MacPorts, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• bpytop

Project history

The project was created on GitHub in 2020 by aristocratos. Its README describes bpytop as a Python port and continuation of bashtop, carrying over bashtop-compatible themes while expanding the implementation around Python and psutil.

In 2021 the same author began a third iteration, btop, written in C++. The bpytop README documents that btop++ was completed for Linux and released as version 1.0.0 on 18 September 2021, making bpytop an important middle step in the bashtop to btop evolution.

Adoption history

The official README lists installation through PyPI, Homebrew, MacPorts, Arch Linux, Snapcraft, and other distribution channels. The input package facts also record packaging in Homebrew, Debian, MacPorts, Arch, and Ubuntu, which reflects broad Unix-like package-manager adoption for a terminal monitor.

bpytop became popular partly because it packaged a polished dashboard experience as a single CLI command, a pattern that suited Homebrew and Linux distribution users who wanted richer terminal monitoring without a desktop application.

How it is used

Users run bpytop to inspect CPU, memory, disk, network, and process state from the terminal. The README highlights filtering, process sorting, selected-process details, mouse support, and sending SIGTERM, SIGKILL, or SIGINT from the interface.

The project depends on Python 3.7 or newer and psutil. Its terminal UI expects UTF-8, wide character support, and either truecolor or 256-color fallback, which is typical of modern TUI tools that rely on box drawing and braille graph characters.

Why package nerds care

For package-history nerds, bpytop is notable as the transitional Python entry in aristocratos' resource-monitor trilogy: bashtop in Bash, bpytop in Python, and btop in C++. It shows how the same terminal UX moved across implementation languages as performance and portability needs changed.

It is also a good example of how TUI tools spread through multiple package ecosystems at once: PyPI for upstream freshness, Homebrew and MacPorts for macOS users, distro packages for Linux users, and Snapcraft for cross-distro installs.

Timeline

• 2020: The bpytop GitHub repository was created.
• 2020: The README identifies bpytop as the Python port and continuation of bashtop.
• 2021-05: The author announced work on a third iteration in C++ named btop.
• 2021-09: The bpytop README announced btop++ 1.0.0 for Linux.

Related projects

• bashtop is the predecessor named by the bpytop README.
• btop is the C++ successor documented in the bpytop README news section.
• psutil is the Python system-information library listed as bpytop's core runtime dependency.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/aristocratos/bpytop
• https://github.com/aristocratos/bpytop#readme
• source_facts.package-manager