ProcessSpy

Premiumby Robert Varga

Advanced process monitor for Mac

4.8(6)5DevelopmentDevelopment ToolsmacOS

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ProcessSpy is a lightweight, native macOS process explorer built for developers who need deeper system insights than Apple's default Activity Monitor provides. Serving as a powerful Mac alternative to Sysinternals Process Explorer, it grants power users full visibility into process hierarchies, command-line arguments, environment variables, and active network sockets. Designed to seamlessly integrate into your workflow, it even allows you to automate your system by triggering custom macOS Shortcuts whenever specific processes start or finish.

Features

Real-time process list with CPU, memory, and thread usage
Per-process CPU & memory history with mini graphs
Finished process recall (remembers terminated processes)
CPU QoS breakdown and User/System ratio
Real-time disk I/O tracking (read/write speeds)
Full command-line arguments with all arguments visible
Open files and sockets inspection
Environment variables viewer (paid feature)
Digital signatures and entitlements verification (paid)
Process origin tracking (shows which process launched another)
Advanced tree view with parent-child relationships
XPC service linking (groups related XPC services)
Roll-up aggregate totals for true system impact
JavaScript filters for custom multi-condition filtering
Regex + multi-property search across name, command line, files
Point-and-click discovery for process hierarchies
Aggregate totals in hierarchy view
macOS Shortcuts triggers when processes start/end
Menu bar dashboard for real-time system health
Context menu actions (show in Finder, copy path, search online, pause/resume, kill)
Export to CSV/JSON
Lightweight and efficient (minimal CPU/memory usage)
Native macOS APIs for accurate data
Unresponsive app detection

Use Cases

Debugging performance issues by identifying CPU/memory spikes in real-time
Troubleshooting stubborn apps that won't close (kill unresponsive processes instantly)
Finding what files or network connections a process is using
Understanding process hierarchies and which app launched another process
Analyzing command-line arguments passed to processes (e.g., Java -Xmx flags)
Monitoring background processes consuming resources without visible UI
Verifying app authenticity through digital signatures and entitlements
Automating workflows with macOS Shortcuts triggered by process events
Exporting process data for post-analysis or reporting (CSV/JSON)
Setting up JavaScript filters to spotlight specific processes you care about
Tracking disk I/O to find which process is writing heavily to storage
Checking memory pressure rates to diagnose slowdowns
Searching across multiple properties at once (e.g., find all Java processes with specific flags)
Monitoring system health from the menu bar without opening the app
Reviewing history of terminated processes to see what just ran
Grouping XPC services to understand macOS app architecture
Seeing aggregate CPU/memory of entire process trees (not just individual processes)

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Features

Real-time process list with CPU, memory, and thread usage
Per-process CPU & memory history with mini graphs
Finished process recall (remembers terminated processes)
CPU QoS breakdown and User/System ratio
Real-time disk I/O tracking (read/write speeds)
Full command-line arguments with all arguments visible
Open files and sockets inspection
Environment variables viewer (paid feature)
Digital signatures and entitlements verification (paid)
Process origin tracking (shows which process launched another)
Advanced tree view with parent-child relationships
XPC service linking (groups related XPC services)
Roll-up aggregate totals for true system impact
JavaScript filters for custom multi-condition filtering
Regex + multi-property search across name, command line, files
Point-and-click discovery for process hierarchies
Aggregate totals in hierarchy view
macOS Shortcuts triggers when processes start/end
Menu bar dashboard for real-time system health
Context menu actions (show in Finder, copy path, search online, pause/resume, kill)
Export to CSV/JSON
Lightweight and efficient (minimal CPU/memory usage)
Native macOS APIs for accurate data
Unresponsive app detection

Use Cases

Debugging performance issues by identifying CPU/memory spikes in real-time
Troubleshooting stubborn apps that won't close (kill unresponsive processes instantly)
Finding what files or network connections a process is using
Understanding process hierarchies and which app launched another process
Analyzing command-line arguments passed to processes (e.g., Java -Xmx flags)
Monitoring background processes consuming resources without visible UI
Verifying app authenticity through digital signatures and entitlements
Automating workflows with macOS Shortcuts triggered by process events
Exporting process data for post-analysis or reporting (CSV/JSON)
Setting up JavaScript filters to spotlight specific processes you care about
Tracking disk I/O to find which process is writing heavily to storage
Checking memory pressure rates to diagnose slowdowns
Searching across multiple properties at once (e.g., find all Java processes with specific flags)
Monitoring system health from the menu bar without opening the app
Reviewing history of terminated processes to see what just ran
Grouping XPC services to understand macOS app architecture
Seeing aggregate CPU/memory of entire process trees (not just individual processes)

Comments

Robert VargaMaker

I was juggling several Java apps, each using a different JDK version — and I couldn't tell which process was which in Activity Monitor. All I saw was "java". No version, no path, no details. So I built ProcessSpy — a developer-focused native macOS process explorer that shows full command-line info, version details, environment variables, and more. It's the Sysinternals Process Explorer equivalent for macOS, revealing what Activity Monitor hides: process trees, open files, environment variables, and instant kill for stubborn apps.

Bisser Milanov

This looks like a serious upgrade over the built-in Activity Monitor. The per-process CPU/memory history with mini graphs and the disk I/O tracking are exactly what I need to catch resource spikes as they happen. Being able to see full command-line arguments is a huge plus for debugging Java apps.

developer-5

Great upgrade to built-in Activity Monitor. Does it work on windows too ?

GG G

The terminated-process recall plus full command-line and environment visibility solves a real gap in Activity Monitor. For debugging intermittent dev environment issues, CSV/JSON export would be even more useful if it included a short capture window around process start/end and the parent chain, so a snapshot can be shared later without keeping ProcessSpy open.

Faruk Gündüz

Nice tool, future update where we can monitor and manually adjust the fan speed would be a great improvement.

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