Install htop with Homebrew, apk, apt, dnf, MacPorts, Nix, pacman, zypper

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• htop

Project history

The htop-dev README records that htop was invented, developed, and maintained by Hisham Muhammad from 2004 to 2019, with the original repository archived to preserve that history. The legacy README describes the project as an interactive text-mode process viewer for Unix systems that aims to be a better `top`.

A 2016 FOSDEM talk by Muhammad describes the early implementation as Linux-oriented, using `/proc` for process data and ncurses for the interface. The talk also documents the portability story: FreeBSD users used linprocfs, a Mac OS X fork diverged, and a later effort brought cross-platform support back into the main project.

In 2020, after a prolonged period of inactivity by the original maintainer, a volunteer team took over development amicably under the htop-dev organization. The ChangeLog entry for 3.0.0 names the new maintainers, htop.dev, and the htop-dev GitHub repository as the continuation point, while the legacy repository points users to the organization-based repository.

Adoption history

htop's adoption is broad enough to be almost infrastructural for Unix-like users. The input package facts record it across Homebrew, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, MacPorts, Nix, Arch, Alpine, and openSUSE-style packaging. That spread reflects both user familiarity and maintainer demand: the tool is expected on servers, developer laptops, containers, and rescue shells.

The project's portability work also widened adoption beyond the original Linux `/proc` model. Official and historical materials discuss macOS, BSD, Solaris-family, and other Unix-like support, which helped htop become a standard cross-platform terminal monitor rather than only a Linux convenience.

How it is used

Users run htop to inspect live CPU, memory, swap, load, process state, process trees, command lines, and per-process resource consumption. Its interactive controls make common administration tasks faster: sort by columns, search or filter processes, change views, inspect trees, send signals, and adjust process priorities without leaving the TUI.

Configuration is part of its package identity. The curated input records `~/.config/htop/htoprc` and `$HTOPRC`, matching the way users customize columns, meters, colors, sorting, and display behavior so the same terminal dashboard appears across machines.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, htop is a perfect example of a small terminal program becoming a cultural default. It is not a daemon, framework, or library; it is a better everyday view into process state. Its ubiquity makes package availability itself part of the user expectation: if a system package manager exists, users look for htop in it.

The 2020 maintainer transition is also significant. htop shows how a beloved single-maintainer utility can move to a collaborative organization while preserving the old repository, homepage identity, and release line. That is the kind of continuity package ecosystems depend on.

Timeline

• 2004: htop was invented by Hisham Muhammad.
• 2006: The htop-dev Git tag stream includes the 0.6.1 tag from May.
• 2016: Muhammad presented the FOSDEM talk 'Going cross-platform: how htop was made portable.'
• 2019: The htop-dev README marks the end of Muhammad's original maintenance period.
• 2020: A volunteer team took over development under htop-dev.
• 2020: Version 3.0.0 introduced the htop-dev continuation after the maintainer transition.
• Package-manager era: The input package facts record htop across major Linux, BSD-adjacent, macOS, and cross-platform package managers.

Related projects

• htop is historically related to Unix `top`, and its ecosystem neighbors include process viewers and system monitors such as `atop`, `glances`, `btop`, `gotop`, and desktop task managers. It also has a lineage connection to terminal UI programs built on ncurses and to platform-specific process APIs that replaced the original Linux-only `/proc` assumptions.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/htop-dev/htop/commits/80f344559bba331d6daa2c913005e7eefddcf075
• https://api.github.com/repos/htop-dev/htop/commits/dace850fa6e27b5626115b366059258cfe4d60c9
• https://api.github.com/repos/htop-dev/htop/tags?per_page=100
• https://github.com/hishamhm/htop
• https://github.com/htop-dev/htop
• https://github.com/htop-dev/htop/blob/main/ChangeLog
• https://htop.dev/
• https://htop.dev/assets/static/htop_talk_fosdem2016_hisham.pdf