vigil is a high-resolution terminal dashboard that shows live wattage, thermals, clock speeds, efficiency scores, and electricity cost for every major component — all inside the terminal with no browser, no background service, no telemetry.
It reads directly from hardware sensors (hwmon, RAPL, LibreHardwareMonitor, NVML) and falls back gracefully when a sensor is unavailable. Every panel updates in real time, the whole thing runs from a single vigil command.
- CPU package power — hwmon (k10temp / zenpower / amd_energy) → RAPL → LibreHardwareMonitor WMI → CPU% × TDP estimate
- GPU power — NVIDIA NVML: watts, temperature, utilisation, core/mem clocks, VRAM, fan speed
- RAM wattage — DDR4 power model (slot count × utilisation)
- Throttle detection — blinking
THROTTLEbadge on CPU or GPU thermal throttle
- Power history — high-resolution Braille area chart, CPU + GPU overlay
- Clock history — CPU avg frequency + GPU core clock with boost ceiling marker
- Per-core bars — utilisation % + live frequency for every core
- Process table — ranked by estimated wattage contribution
- Sparkline trends — per-process watt history mini-chart
- EST.W column — watts per process derived from CPU% share of package power
- Efficiency score —
OPTIMAL·NORMAL·LOW EFF·THROTTLE - Electricity cost — /hr, /day, session total (configurable kWh price + currency)
- Baseline mode — snapshot idle state, compare live delta in real time
- Webhook alerts — HTTP POST when CPU temp or power threshold is breached
- Session logging — optional JSONL tick log (
--logflag) - SVG screenshot — full dashboard export with
s
- TacticalCyberpunk (dark) — green / amber / cyan on near-black
- GhostWhite (light) — high-contrast monochrome
- Setup wizard — first-run guided TDP + kWh configuration
- Live accent recolour — sidebar colour tweaks without restart
| Platform | CPU Power | CPU Temp | GPU Power | GPU Temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | hwmon · RAPL · estimate | hwmon | NVML | NVML |
| Windows 11 / 10 | LibreHardwareMonitor · estimate | LHM | NVML | NVML |
| macOS | estimate only | — | NVML (if present) | NVML |
vigil reads real CPU wattage through LibreHardwareMonitor (MPL-2.0) via its WMI interface. Without it, vigil falls back to a CPU% × TDP estimate automatically.
- Download LibreHardwareMonitor
- Run it as Administrator
- Launch vigil — LHM is detected automatically
vigil does not bundle or modify LibreHardwareMonitor. It connects to its WMI interface at runtime. LHM must be running separately.
Requirements: Python 3.11+
# Clone
git clone https://github.com/GIN-SYSTEMS/vigil-tui
cd vigil-tui
# Linux / macOS
pip install .# Windows (includes WMI + pywin32 for LHM support)
pip install ".[windows]"Run:
vigil # launch dashboard
vigil --log # launch + write JSONL tick log
vigil --help # all options| Key | Action |
|---|---|
* / ? | Toggle help overlay |
q / Ctrl+C | Quit |
p | Pause / resume sampling |
r | Reset chart history |
+ / - | Zoom Y-axis in / out |
b | Snapshot baseline — press again to clear |
s | Save SVG screenshot |
t | Toggle theme (dark ↔ light) |
c | Open config / setup wizard |
First launch creates ~/.config/vigil/config.toml:
[hardware]
cpu_tdp_watts = 65.0# CPU TDP ceiling for estimationgpu_tdp_watts = 165.0# GPU TDP ceilingupdate_interval = 1.0# seconds between tickshistory_len = 120# chart ring-buffer depth
[cost]
kwh_price = 2.0# electricity price per kWhcurrency_symbol = "₺"
[alerts]
webhook_url = ""# HTTP POST endpoint — empty = disabledcpu_temp_thresh = 90# °Ccpu_watt_thresh_pct = 90# % of TDP
[ui]
theme = "tactical"# "tactical" or "ghost"vigil starts
│
├─ Linux?
│ ├─ hwmon sysfs (k10temp / zenpower / amd_energy) ← real sensor
│ ├─ RAPL powercap energy_uj delta ← kernel counter
│ └─ CPU% × TDP estimate ← always available
│
└─ Windows?
├─ LibreHardwareMonitor WMI (requires Admin + LHM) ← real sensor
└─ CPU% × TDP estimate ← always available
GPU → NVML (pynvml) on all platforms
if no NVIDIA GPU: panel shows "unavailable", no crash
vigil-tui/
├── src/vigil/
│ ├── app.py # Textual app, layout, tick loop
│ ├── config.py # Static constants
│ ├── config_manager.py # TOML config loader/writer
│ ├── session.py # Cost tracking, webhooks, JSONL logging
│ ├── collectors/
│ │ ├── base.py # Collector ABC + SensorReading
│ │ ├── cpu.py # hwmon → RAPL → LHM → estimate
│ │ ├── gpu.py # NVIDIA NVML
│ │ ├── ram.py # RAM wattage model
│ │ ├── netdisk.py # Network + disk I/O rates
│ │ └── system.py # Orchestrator → SystemSnapshot
│ └── widgets/
│ ├── power_header.py # Top bar: wordmark + gauge
│ ├── cpu_panel.py # Left: CPU + per-core bars
│ ├── braille_chart.py # Center: power history
│ ├── clock_chart.py # Center: clock history
│ ├── process_table.py # Center: process ranking
│ ├── gpu_panel.py # Right: GPU metrics
│ ├── financial_widget.py # Cost display
│ ├── netdisk_widget.py # Network + disk rates
│ ├── status_bar.py # Footer
│ ├── boot_screen.py # Splash screen
│ ├── help_overlay.py # Key bindings overlay
│ └── setup_wizard.py # First-run wizard
├── .github/workflows/ci.yml
├── pyproject.toml
├── requirements.txt
└── LICENSE
| Package | Purpose |
|---|---|
textual >= 0.80 | TUI framework |
psutil >= 5.9.8 | CPU%, process list, net/disk I/O |
pynvml >= 11.5.0 | NVIDIA GPU metrics |
wmi >= 1.5.1(Windows) | LHM WMI bridge |
pywin32 >= 306(Windows) | Windows COM/WMI support |
MIT — free to use, modify, and distribute.
built by GIN-SYSTEMS