Task Manager is a free, open-source Mac app that works like the Windows Task Manager: a sortable process list with End Task, live CPU, memory, GPU, disk and network graphs, and a system overview. It is written in Swift and SwiftUI with no third-party dependencies, runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel, and has Light, Dark and OLED Black themes. Current version: v0.4.3.
- Processes – apps or all processes, sortable and searchable, with a confirmed End Task. Pick the columns you want: CPU, Memory, Disk, PID, User, Threads, State and Started.
- Process details – double-click a process for its path (with Reveal in Finder), parent, open files, code-signature status and open TCP/UDP ports.
- Performance – 60-second graphs for CPU (performance and efficiency cores), Memory (wired, compressed), GPU, Disk (read and write) and Network (send and receive, for all connections or one interface).
- System – model, chip, cores, memory, graphics, macOS version and build, up time, thermal state, storage and battery. The hostname and serial number are never read.
- Menu bar mode (optional) – a live readout in the menu bar (CPU, memory, GPU, disk and network, in any combination) with a popover of graphs and your busiest apps, and an option to hide the Dock icon. Turn it on in Settings → Menu bar.
- Make it yours – System / Light / Dark / OLED Black appearance, six accent colours plus a custom one, card corner style and per-graph colours. Settings are a page inside the window (⌘,).
- Accessible – VoiceOver labels throughout, full keyboard control of the process list, a Text size setting, Reduce Motion and Increase Contrast support. See ACCESSIBILITY.md.
- Signed updates – checks GitHub releases and installs only Ed25519-signed builds. See SECURITY.md.
- Private – no telemetry, accounts or analytics. See PRIVACY.md.
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Requires macOS 15 or later. Builds are universal (Apple silicon and Intel).
Homebrew – installs the same DMG and clears the macOS first-launch block for you:
brew install --cask Ol775/tap/task-managerDownload – get Task-Manager-<version>.dmg from Releases, open it and drag TaskManager to Applications. Every release also has a .sha256 file (shasum -a 256 Task-Manager-<version>.dmg).
The app is ad-hoc signed, not notarized (that needs a paid Apple Developer ID), so macOS blocks the first launch of a downloaded DMG. Either:
- open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the message about TaskManager and click Open Anyway (on macOS 15 and later the old right-click → Open shortcut no longer works), or
- run
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/TaskManager.apponce in Terminal.
After that, in-app updates install without any prompt, because the app downloads and verifies them itself.
Build from source – needs Xcode 16 or later (the Swift 6 toolchain):
git clone https://github.com/Ol775/macos-task-manager.git
cd macos-task-manager
./build-app.sh && open TaskManager.app
TaskManager.app/Contents/MacOS/TaskManager --selftest # updater, sampling and contrast checksWhy can't I see every process? macOS only lets an unprivileged app inspect processes owned by the same user, so system and other users' processes aren't listed. Settings → Permissions shows how many are hidden. Showing them would need a privileged helper, which is on the roadmap only if there is demand.
Does it need special permissions? No. There is no Full Disk Access, Accessibility or Screen Recording prompt.
Is End Task safe? It asks first, sends SIGTERM (a polite quit request) and only to the exact process that was listed: the start time is re-checked so a reused PID is never signalled.
Why isn't it on the App Store? The App Store requires the sandbox, which blocks the process APIs the app relies on.
Why is there no per-process network column? macOS doesn't expose it without elevated privileges. Network is shown per interface instead.
- CHANGELOG.md – what changed in each version
- ROADMAP.md – what's next
- CONTRIBUTING.md – building, tests and pull requests
- SECURITY.md, PRIVACY.md and ACCESSIBILITY.md
Releases are cut with ./bump.sh and ./release.sh, which build the universal DMG, sign it with an offline key and update the Homebrew cask. tools/makeicon.swift regenerates the icon and docs/make-banner.swift the banner.
MIT © 2026 Ol775