darwin-perf 0.5.1

System performance monitoring for macOS Apple Silicon — GPU, CPU, memory, energy, temperature, disk I/O via Mach APIs and AppleSMC. No sudo needed.

darwin-perf

System performance monitoring for macOS Apple Silicon — GPU, CPU, memory, energy, temperature, and disk I/O via Mach APIs, IORegistry, and AppleSMC. No sudo needed.

Install

pip install darwin-perf

Quick Start

Temperatures (instant, no sudo)

from darwin_perf import temperatures

t = temperatures()
print(f"CPU: {t['cpu_avg']:.1f}°C  GPU: {t['gpu_avg']:.1f}°C")
# CPU: 40.1°C  GPU: 36.5°C

# Individual sensors
for name, temp in t['cpu_sensors'].items():
    print(f"  {name}: {temp:.1f}°C")

CPU Power & Frequency

from darwin_perf import cpu_power

c = cpu_power(interval=0.5)
print(f"CPU Power: {c['cpu_power_w']:.2f}W")
for name, cl in c['clusters'].items():
    print(f"  {name}: {cl['freq_mhz']} MHz, {cl['active_pct']:.0f}%")
# ECPU: 663 MHz, 100% active
# PCPU: 1272 MHz, 100% active

GPU Power & Frequency

from darwin_perf import gpu_power

g = gpu_power(interval=0.5)
print(f"GPU: {g['gpu_power_w']:.2f}W  {g['gpu_freq_mhz']}MHz")
print(f"Throttled: {g['throttled']}")
for s in g['frequency_states']:
    mhz = s.get('freq_mhz', '?')
    print(f"  {s['state']}: {mhz}MHz ({s['residency_pct']:.1f}%)")

Per-Process GPU/CPU Utilization

from darwin_perf import snapshot

for proc in snapshot():
    print(f"{proc['name']:20s}  GPU {proc['gpu_percent']:5.1f}%  "
          f"CPU {proc['cpu_percent']:5.1f}%  {proc['memory_mb']:.0f}MB  "
          f"{proc['energy_w']:.1f}W")

Full System Snapshot (everything in one call)

from darwin_perf import snapshot

s = snapshot(interval=1.0, system=True, detailed=True)
# s['cpu']          — cpu_power_w, clusters (ECPU/PCPU freq + residency)
# s['gpu']          — gpu_power_w, gpu_freq_mhz, throttled, frequency_states
# s['temperatures'] — cpu_avg, gpu_avg, system_avg, per-sensor dicts
# s['memory']       — memory_total, memory_used, memory_available, ...
# s['gpu_stats']    — device_utilization, model, gpu_core_count
# s['processes']    — per-process GPU%, CPU%, memory, energy, IPC, disk I/O

System-Wide Stats

from darwin_perf import system_stats, system_gpu_stats

sys = system_stats()     # instant, ~3µs
print(f"RAM: {sys['memory_used']/1e9:.1f} / {sys['memory_total']/1e9:.1f} GB")
print(f"CPU idle: {sys['cpu_idle_pct']:.1f}%")

gpu = system_gpu_stats()
print(f"{gpu['model']} ({gpu['gpu_core_count']} cores)")
print(f"Device utilization: {gpu['device_utilization']}%")

GpuMonitor (continuous monitoring)

from darwin_perf import GpuMonitor

mon = GpuMonitor()  # monitors the current process
for batch in dataloader:
    train(batch)
    print(f"GPU: {mon.sample():.1f}%")

# Or as a context manager with background sampling:
with GpuMonitor() as mon:
    mon.start(interval=2.0)
    train()
print(mon.summary())  # {'gpu_pct_avg': 42.1, 'gpu_pct_max': 87.3, ...}

Low-Level Access

from darwin_perf import gpu_clients, proc_info

# All GPU clients — includes Metal/GL/CL API type
for c in gpu_clients():
    ns = c['gpu_ns'] / 1e9
    print(f"PID {c['pid']} ({c['name']}): {ns:.1f}s [{c['api']}]")

# Per-process stats (CPU, memory, energy, disk I/O, threads)
info = proc_info(1234)
print(f"Memory: {info['memory']/1e6:.0f}MB, Energy: {info['energy_nj']/1e9:.1f}J")

CLI

# Live monitoring
darwin-perf              # per-process GPU/CPU monitor
darwin-perf --tui        # rich terminal UI (pip install darwin-perf[tui])
darwin-perf --gui        # floating window (pip install darwin-perf[gui])
darwin-perf -i 1         # 1-second updates
darwin-perf --pid 1234   # specific PID

# Streaming output
darwin-perf --json       # one JSON line per update (pipe to jq, etc.)
darwin-perf --csv        # CSV with header (pipe to file for spreadsheets)

# Recording & export
darwin-perf --record session.jsonl         # capture full system state
darwin-perf --record session.jsonl -n 60   # record 60 samples
darwin-perf --export session.jsonl         # → _system.csv + _processes.csv
darwin-perf --replay session.jsonl         # replay with original timing

Record → Export workflow

Record a training run, then analyze in a spreadsheet or pandas:

# 1. Record during workload
darwin-perf --record training.jsonl -i 2

# 2. Export to CSV
darwin-perf --export training.jsonl

# 3. Produces:
#    training_system.csv    — CPU/GPU power, temps, memory per sample
#    training_processes.csv — per-process GPU%, CPU%, memory, IPC per sample

import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_csv("training_system.csv")
df.plot(x="epoch", y=["cpu_power_w", "gpu_power_w", "temp_cpu_avg", "temp_gpu_avg"])

API Reference

Python API

Function	Description
snapshot()	Per-process GPU/CPU utilization, memory, energy
snapshot(system=True)	Full system: CPU/GPU power, temps, memory + processes
snapshot(detailed=True)	Extended fields: IPC, wakeups, peak memory, disk I/O
temperatures()	Instant thermal sensors via AppleSMC (CPU, GPU, system)
cpu_power(interval)	CPU power (W), ECPU/PCPU frequency + P-state residency
gpu_power(interval)	GPU power (W), frequency (MHz), throttle, P-state residency
system_stats()	System memory + CPU ticks (instant, ~3µs)
system_gpu_stats()	GPU utilization %, model, core count, VRAM
GpuMonitor	Continuous per-process GPU % with background thread

C Extension Functions

Function	Description
gpu_clients()	All GPU-active processes: [{pid, name, gpu_ns, api}, ...]
gpu_time_ns(pid)	Cumulative GPU nanoseconds for a PID
gpu_time_ns_multi(pids)	Batch GPU ns for multiple PIDs (single IORegistry scan)
cpu_time_ns(pid)	Cumulative CPU nanoseconds (user + system)
proc_info(pid)	Full process stats (CPU, memory, energy, disk, threads)
temperatures()	Thermal sensors via AppleSMC
cpu_power(interval)	CPU package power + per-cluster frequency states
gpu_power(interval)	GPU power, frequency, throttle, temperature
gpu_freq_table()	GPU DVFS frequency table (MHz per P-state)
system_stats()	System memory + CPU via Mach APIs
system_gpu_stats()	GPU performance statistics from IORegistry
ppid(pid)	Parent process ID (-1 on error)

How It Works

GPU per-process metrics: Apple doesn't provide a public API for this. The data exists in the IORegistry — every Metal command queue creates an AGXDeviceUserClient with accumulatedGPUTime in nanoseconds. Sample twice, divide by elapsed time = utilization %. World-readable, no sudo.

CPU/GPU power & frequency: Uses libIOReport.dylib (same data source as powermetrics). Subscribes to "Energy Model" and "CPU Stats"/"GPU Stats" groups. No sudo.

Temperatures: Reads SMC keys (Tp*=CPU, Tg*=GPU, Ts*=system) via IOServiceOpen("AppleSMC") + IOConnectCallStructMethod. 48+ sensors on M4 Max. No sudo.

System stats: host_statistics64() for memory, host_statistics(HOST_CPU_LOAD_INFO) for CPU ticks, proc_pid_rusage(RUSAGE_INFO_V6) for per-process metrics. All unprivileged.

Requirements

• macOS with Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4/M5)
• Python 3.9+
• Zero dependencies

License

MIT