Brutus

Brutus is a command-line tool for macOS that identifies and stops resource-heavy individual subprocesses.

Brutus is a command-line utility designed for macOS to help users manage resource pressure caused by background agents, build processes, and development servers. It samples system resource usage for about three seconds and displays the top three individual processes along with their launch commands, memory usage, and CPU consumption. Users can inspect process details, dry-run actions, or select specific process IDs to close without interrupting unrelated tasks. The tool is built as a small native C process that reads macOS counters directly through libproc, Mach, sysctl, and IOKit, requiring no interpreter, daemon, or telemetry. It is intended for developers and power users who want to maintain machine performance while running parallel workloads.

Brutus at a glance

Best for: Software engineer
Runs on: macOS, CLI
Pricing: Free
Released: October 2026
Category: AI coding tool
Website: github.com/smashah/brutus

Key features

Samples resource usage for about three seconds
Displays top three resource-heavy individual processes
Provides detailed command, path, and system inspections
Supports dry-run mode to preview menu actions
Reports before and after pressure and resource metrics
Saves private JSON reports locally
Includes a skill file for AI agent integration

Use it for

Stopping individual subprocesses seizing a Mac
Investigating sustained system stalls using AI agents
Monitoring RAM, swap, SSD space, and CPU use
Managing parallel agent and build process workloads

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