glances

Glances is a cross-platform system monitoring tool that provides real-time monitoring of CPU, memory, disk, network usage, running processes, temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds. It supports container monitoring for Docker and LXC, presenting information through a terminal dashboard, web interface, or command-line output.

The tool operates in multiple modes including standalone terminal display, web server mode with HTTP/RESTful API access, and client/server mode for remote monitoring. It can export statistics to various formats including CSV, JSON, and direct stdout output, with support for querying specific metrics like glances --stdout cpu.user,mem.used,load. Stats can also be exported to external databases like InfluxDB, ElasticSearch, PostgreSQL, and message brokers.

Glances includes a built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that allows AI assistants like Claude and Cursor to query system information directly. The tool provides a Python API through the glances.api module, enabling programmatic access to all monitoring data. It supports network discovery to detect other Glances servers and includes a browser mode for managing multiple monitored systems through both TUI and WebUI interfaces.

Installation

# via pip
pip install glances

# via pip (full)
pip install 'glances[all]'

# via uvx
uvx glances