How to Install and Use bottom in Linux for a Fast Terminal System and Process Monitor

While classic system utilities like top and htop remain staple terminal monitoring tools on Linux, modern terminal workstations benefit tremendously from responsive, GPU-friendly interfaces built in Rust. bottom (invoked as btm) is a graphical system monitor that runs entirely inside your command line, presenting CPU core loads, memory allocation, storage I/O, network bandwidth, and process lists in dynamic, zoomable widgets.

Installing bottom on Linux Distributions

bottom is available across official package repositories, snap, and cargo. Choose the installation command appropriate for your distribution:

• Ubuntu and Debian: Download the pre-built .deb package from GitHub releases, or install via snap:
  sudo snap install bottom
• Arch Linux: Install directly from the official repositories:
  sudo pacman -S bottom
• Fedora: Install via DNF Copr:
  sudo dnf copr enable atim/bottom && sudo dnf install bottom
• Cargo (Universal): If you have the Rust toolchain installed, compile from source:
  cargo install bottom --locked

Navigating and Understanding the Default Dashboard

Launch the monitor by typing btm in your terminal. You will be greeted with a multi-widget dashboard displaying real-time metrics:

• CPU Widget: Displays total processor utilisation alongside individual core graphs, highlighting spikes and load balancing across threads.
• Memory Widget: Tracks physical RAM and swap usage simultaneously with percentage metrics and historic line charts.
• Disks & Temperatures: Shows mount points, read/write throughput, and hardware thermal sensors where supported.
• Network Widget: Monitors real-time inbound and outbound throughput, keeping an accurate record of transfer spikes.
• Processes Widget: An interactive process table listing PID, process name, CPU percentage, memory share, and user ownership.

Interactive Navigation and Process Management

Unlike basic terminal monitors that require constant command switching, bottom allows smooth mouse interaction and intuitive keyboard navigation:

1. Use your Arrow keys or h/j/k/l (Vim keys) to move the active focus box between widgets.
2. Press Enter or click on any widget to expand it into full-screen view. Press Esc to return to the multi-widget grid.
3. Navigate to the Processes widget and press / to initiate an instant fuzzy search for any running program name.
4. To terminate an unresponsive process, highlight it in the list and press dd. bottom prompts you with a confirmation dialogue before sending the termination signal.
5. Press + or - to zoom the time scale in and out across historic performance graphs.

With its minimal resource footprint, smooth rendering engine, and rich configuration options via bottom.toml, bottom delivers an exceptional command-line observability experience for Linux desktop users and server administrators alike.