Validated with automated tests, debug and release builds, packaged-app code-signature checks, and hands-on UI regression through macOS accessibility and screenshots.

Features

Live process list with CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network usage
Cached native application icons throughout process groups, app history, startup apps, users, services, properties, and dependency views
Search and sortable process columns, including live Disk and Network rates
Drag-resizable, persisted Processes columns with memory hover details showing both resident bytes and physical-memory percentage
Process headers cycle through descending, ascending, and unsorted states; the third click restores Windows-style process categories
Expandable application groups plus a resizable Details table with application icons, persisted optional columns, live selection actions, threads, open handles, architecture, priority/nice, parent PID, CPU time, and other diagnostics
Collapsible Windows-style Apps, Background processes, and macOS processes categories
Native process sampling reports from the Inspect submenu, with save-location memory and completion feedback
Persistent preferences for the default start page, Performance selection and CPU graph mode, update speed, always-on-top behavior, and process/detail table layouts
Expandable application groups with aggregate metrics and individual child processes
Group-wide right-click controls for ending, pausing, resuming, reprioritizing, copying, and inspecting related processes
Nested right-click menus for process control, priority, copying, inspection, and properties
Graceful termination, force quit, process-tree termination, pause, and resume actions
CPU and memory history charts
Right-click CPU graph switching between summary and live per-core views
Live network receive/send throughput with an auto-scaling 60-second chart
Persistent per-app history with cumulative CPU time, network totals, download/upload breakdowns, and reset confirmation
Disk, uptime, process, and thread statistics
One live Performance entry per available removable volume, with capacity, availability, filesystem, mount point, and ejectable status; disconnected volumes are hidden
Physical-disk health inventory with one card per attached disk and macOS-reported SMART status, NVMe wear/life, spare capacity, temperature, TRIM, power hours/cycles, unsafe shutdowns, media errors, and lifetime reads/writes
Detailed memory telemetry for active, cached, wired, compressed, and swap usage plus hardware type, manufacturer, and reported speed/frequency
Kernel-driven Normal/Warning/Critical memory-pressure status with plain-language guidance; reclaimable cache is no longer misreported as application memory in use
A maintained M1-through-M5 Apple-silicon memory catalog, including core-count configuration variants; Intel Macs continue to use DIMM speeds reported directly by System Information
Native disk read/write throughput, IOPS, active time, and response-time histories
Live Apple GPU utilization with overall, renderer, and tiler histories plus GPU memory and core statistics
Hardware diagnostics for battery health, capacity, cycle life, temperature, charge state, live SMC-backed system/battery/adapter watts, thermal pressure, USB-PD negotiation and advertised power profiles
Energy & Sleep dashboard with transparent CPU/disk/network-based process impact estimates, active power policy, sleep timers, and the processes currently preventing idle sleep
Event-driven lifecycle, application, mount, wake, thermal, memory-pressure, and power-source refreshes backed by independent adaptive telemetry, process-inventory, hardware, and service lanes; pages such as Hardware, Startup, Services, and Settings reuse cached processes and run only lightweight native system telemetry between process events
USB-C, USB, and Thunderbolt port inventory with negotiated link speeds, connected-device power requirements, and an optional available-port map
User, detail, service, persistent app history, and startup views covering LaunchAgents immediately, with an explicit on-demand scan of the modern macOS background-task registry
Estimated live startup impact with Low, Medium, and High classifications and detailed CPU/memory/disk evidence
Combined user and system launchd Services registry with scope filtering, running/stopped state, safe Start/Stop/Restart controls, protected-system labeling, configuration reveal, Details, and Properties actions
Process dependency inspector with relationship chains, network/local sockets, canonical framework dependencies, open files, and handle totals
On-demand process security inspector using Security.framework and Gatekeeper for signature validity, signing identity/team/authority, CDHash, hardened runtime, sandbox/debug entitlements, quarantine, and assessment status
Persistent Resource values submenu for switching memory, disk, and network cells between values and percentages
Signed-in Users sessions with active-state and aggregate resources plus Lock, home-folder, account-management, Copy, Details, and Properties actions
Configurable 1/5/10-second diagnostic samples with remembered folders and optional automatic timestamped output
Run New Task sheet and persistent update-speed settings
Persistent expanded and compact navigation: one native macOS NavigationSplitView and sidebar List narrow in place, hiding only the brand and row labels while preserving selection, material, keyboard behavior, and the divider
Native macOS menus, toolbar, light/dark mode, and accessibility behavior
Per-resource top-process panels on Performance with application icons, owning users, and live CPU, memory, disk, or network values
Native JSON export of performance, process, user, battery, power-delivery, thermal, and connected-hardware snapshots
Bounded telemetry session recording with start/stop controls and JSON or CSV export of CPU, memory pressure, disk, GPU, network, power, thermals, and process counts
Configurable sustained CPU, memory, disk, and thermal alerts with consecutive-sample gating, notification permission handling, cooldowns, foreground banners, and recent alert history
Persistent on-demand diagnostic captures with current system, memory-pressure, storage-health, and top-process evidence; select one for inspection or two for before/after delta comparison and JSON export
Integrated SMC fan telemetry and safe in-app cooling controls with per-fan RPM ranges, manual targets, and one-click return to macOS automatic management
Optional menu-bar monitor for CPU, memory, network, or power that reuses the shared sampler rather than starting another polling loop
Command-limited SMAppService launch-daemon helper for fan writes, with same-Team-ID client validation, bounded fan/RPM inputs, explicit enable/disable status, and no arbitrary shell-command interface
Sparkle 2 automatic update support with EdDSA-verified appcasts; unsigned validation builds clearly show when release update credentials are not configured

Run

Open Package.swift in Xcode and press Run, or use:

swift run

To create a standard double-clickable app bundle:

./scripts/build-app.sh
open "dist/puter.app"

To create a drag-to-install disk image containing the app and an Applications shortcut:

./scripts/build-app.sh
./scripts/build-dmg.sh

To run the same structural, signature, Hardened Runtime, icon, Sparkle, helper, and mounted-DMG checks used by CI:

./scripts/validate-package.sh

Signed and notarized releases

build-app.sh produces a Hardened Runtime validation build by default. For a public release, provide a Developer ID Application identity and a notarytool keychain profile:

export PUTER_SIGN_IDENTITY='Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)'
export PUTER_NOTARY_PROFILE='puter-notary'
export PUTER_UPDATE_FEED_URL='https://your-host.example/puter/appcast.xml'
export PUTER_UPDATE_PUBLIC_KEY='SPARKLE_EDDSA_PUBLIC_KEY'
./scripts/build-app.sh
./scripts/build-dmg.sh
./scripts/notarize-release.sh

The release runner must also provide the Stats-derived smc backend through PUTER_SMC_SOURCE or have Stats installed at /Applications/Stats.app. Release validation deliberately fails if live SMC power and fan support would be missing.

The fan helper is embedded at Contents/Resources/puter-helper and its launchd property list at Contents/Library/LaunchDaemons. macOS will not register an ad-hoc helper; test registration from the Developer ID-signed app after placing it in Applications.

To generate or update a signed Sparkle appcast from release archives:

export PUTER_UPDATE_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX='https://your-host.example/puter/releases/'
export PUTER_SPARKLE_PRIVATE_KEY='SPARKLE_EDDSA_PRIVATE_KEY'
./scripts/generate-appcast.sh dist/updates

Keep the Sparkle private key and notarization credentials outside the repository. The Gitea build workflow runs compile, unit, native-sampler performance, app-signature, mounted-DMG, helper, icon, and update-framework checks. Tag releases additionally require the Developer ID certificate, notary API key, Sparkle signing keys, release token, and SMC backend. A successful tag publishes the notarized DMG, stapled app ZIP, signed appcast, and SHA-256 checksum manifest.

See RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md for the credential inventory, signed workflow, independent-machine verification, and release acceptance criteria.

Live CPU and rate metrics still require coordinated sampling, now using native Mach/libproc, virtual-memory, network-interface, and System Configuration APIs on the hot path. Foreground cadence follows the selected update speed where useful, while background, hardware, service, process-diagnostic, device, port, and persistence work runs independently at slower demand-aware intervals. Some system-owned processes cannot be ended without elevated permissions.