
webtask 🖥️
webtask package to start web top version in browser, [kill] like a pro!
A modern, web-based system monitor inspired by htop with advanced file browsing, process transparency layers, and miniature file previews. Monitor your system processes through a sleek terminal-style web interface with real-time updates and comprehensive process management capabilities.
✨ Features
🔄 Real-time Process Monitoring
- Live CPU and memory usage tracking with color-coded indicators
- Process hierarchy visualization with parent-child relationships
- Advanced transparency layers showing process importance levels
- Interactive process selection and detailed information modals
🗂️ Integrated File Browser
- Complete virtual file system navigation (/bin, /etc, /var, /usr)
- Real file content preview with syntax highlighting
- Directory breadcrumb navigation
- File type recognition with appropriate icons
🔍 Miniature Process Previews
- Bash Scripts: Terminal-style preview with actual script content
- HTML Web Pages: Rendered at 10% scale showing live webpage content
- Service Files: Status indicators with configuration previews
- Port Services: Connection information and service details
🎯 Advanced Process Management
- Kill by PID, service name, port number, or username
- Multiple signal types (SIGTERM, SIGKILL, SIGINT, SIGHUP, SIGUSR1, SIGUSR2)
- Bulk operations on filtered processes
- Process dependency tracking
👁️ Transparency System
- Kernel Processes: 20% opacity (most background)
- System Processes: 30% opacity
- Background Services: 50% opacity
- User Services: 70% opacity
- User Applications: 90% opacity (most visible)
⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts
F1 | Toggle advanced controls |
F2 | Open file browser |
F5 | Toggle tree view |
F6 | Change sort order |
F9 | Kill selected process |
F10 or q | Quit webtask |
ESC | Close modals/dropdowns |
🚀 Quick Start

Installation
pip install webtask
Usage
Simply run the command to start webtask:
webtask
This will:
- Start a local web server on
http://localhost:8000
- Automatically open webtask in your default browser
- Begin real-time system monitoring with file browser capabilities
Advanced Usage
webtask --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9000
webtask --no-browser
webtask --version
Alternative Installation
Using Poetry (for development):
git clone https://github.com/devopsterminal/webtask.git
cd webtask
poetry install
poetry run webtask
🎨 Interface Overview
- Real-time CPU and memory usage bars with gradient indicators
- System load average and uptime counter
- Color-coded resource utilization
Advanced Controls Panel (F1)
- Kill by PID, service name, port, or user
- Signal type selection for graceful or forced termination
- Bulk operations on filtered processes
Process List with Previews
- PID: Process identifier with hierarchy indicators
- USER: Process owner with permission levels
- CPU%/MEM%: Resource usage with visual highlighting
- PORT: Network port information with service detection
- COMMAND: Full command line with truncation
- PREVIEW: Miniature file/service preview thumbnail
- ACTION: Advanced kill options with signal selection
File Browser (F2)
- Navigate through system directories
- View actual file content with syntax highlighting
- File type recognition and appropriate previews
- Breadcrumb navigation for easy directory traversal
🛠️ Architecture
Modular Design
webtask/static/
├── index.html # Main HTML structure
├── styles.css # Core styling and responsive design
├── webtask.js # Main application logic
├── process-data.js # Process simulation and data engine
├── file-system.js # Virtual file system implementation
├── file-icons.css # File type styling and icons
├── config.json # Application configuration
└── manifest.json # Progressive Web App manifest
Process Transparency Logic
The transparency system helps identify process importance:
- System/Kernel: Highly transparent (20-30%) - critical but background
- Services: Moderately transparent (50-70%) - important but service-level
- Applications: Least transparent (90%) - direct user interaction
File Preview System
- HTML Files: Rendered using iframe with 10% CSS transform scale
- Script Files: Syntax-highlighted code preview with line numbers
- Config Files: Structured display with key-value highlighting
- Log Files: Real-time log tail with color coding
🔧 Configuration
WebTop can be configured through config.json:
{
"webtop": {
"transparency": {
"system_processes": 0.3,
"user_processes": 0.9
},
"preview": {
"html_scale": 0.1,
"thumbnail_size": {"width": 60, "height": 40}
},
"process_monitor": {
"update_interval": 2000,
"max_processes": 100
}
}
}
🧪 Development
Requirements
- Python 3.7+
- Poetry (for dependency management)
- Modern web browser with ES6+ support
Setup
git clone https://github.com/devopsterminal/webtop.git
cd webtop
poetry install
poetry run webtop
Running Tests
poetry run pytest --cov=webtop
Code Quality
poetry run black webtop tests
poetry run flake8 webtop tests
poetry run mypy webtop
🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Development Workflow
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
- Make changes and add tests
- Run the test suite (
poetry run pytest)
- Format code (
poetry run black .)
- Commit your changes (
git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
- Push to the branch (
git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
- Open a Pull Request
Feature Ideas
- Real system integration (replace simulation)
- Docker container monitoring
- Network connection visualization
- Custom process grouping
- Export capabilities for system snapshots
- Plugin system for custom metrics
📄 License
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.
🙏 Acknowledgments
- Inspired by the excellent htop system monitor
- Built with modern web technologies for cross-platform compatibility
- File system design inspired by Unix/Linux directory structures
📊 Technical Specifications
Browser Compatibility
- Chrome/Chromium 80+
- Firefox 75+
- Safari 13+
- Edge 80+
Performance
- Handles 100+ processes efficiently
- 2-second update intervals
- Responsive design for 800px+ screens
- Progressive Web App capabilities
Security
- No external dependencies for frontend
- Local-only operation (no data transmission)
- Read-only file system simulation
- Process operations are simulated (safe for demonstration)
Made with ❤️ for system administrators and developers who love comprehensive, visual tools.
Version 2.0.0 - Now with file browsing and transparency layers!
webtask-2
List

webtask-1
