GLANCES(1)

📦
version 4.5.8 · 13 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 GLANCES(1) 💅

ok so bestie, you're reading the manual page for glances — that's glances(1) in manual-page speak, section 1, the user commands one, iykyk 🫶. She's long, she's iconic, and she's gonna tell you literally everything. Buckle up ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

glances — An eye on your system 👀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

glances [OPTIONS]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

okay so glances is a cross-platform, curses-based monitoring tool, and her whole personality is presenting a maximum of information in a minimum of space. Like, ideally she fits in a classic 80x24 terminal — but if you've got a bigger terminal? more details, more slay 🦋. She adapts dynamically to the displayed information depending on the terminal size. main character energy, honestly.

She can also work in client/server mode, and remote monitoring can be performed via a terminal or a web interface 💖.

glances is written in Python and uses the psutil library to get information from your system. no cap 🫶

✨ OPTIONS ✨

⌨️ COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS ⌨️

  • -h, --help — shows this help message and dips out 👋
  • -V, --version — shows the program's version number and exits, periodt
  • -d, --debug — turns on debug mode 🐛
  • --print-completion — generates shell tab completion scripts for the Glances CLI ⌨️✨
  • -C CONF_FILE, --config CONF_FILE — the path to the configuration file 🗂️
  • -P PLUGIN_DIRECTORY, --plugins PLUGIN_DIRECTORY — path to a directory containing additional plugins 🧩
  • --modules-list — displays the modules (plugins & exports) list and exits 📋
  • --disable-plugin PLUGIN — disables PLUGIN (comma-separated list) 🙈
  • --enable-plugin PLUGIN — enables PLUGIN (comma-separated list) 💖
  • --stdout PLUGINS_STATS — displays stats to stdout (comma-separated list of plugins/plugins.attribute) 🖨️
  • --export EXPORT — enables the EXPORT module (comma-separated list) 📤
  • --export-csv-file EXPORT_CSV_FILE — file path for the CSV exporter 📄
  • --export-json-file EXPORT_JSON_FILE — file path for the JSON exporter 🧾
  • --disable-process — disables the process module (reduces Glances CPU consumption, lowkey a lifesaver) 🪫
  • --disable-webui — disables the Web UI (only the RESTful API will respond) 🚫
  • --light, --enable-light — light mode for the Curses UI (disables all but the top menu) 🪶
  • -0, --disable-irix — task's CPU usage will be divided by the total number of CPUs ➗
  • -1, --percpu — starts Glances in per CPU mode 🧠
  • -2, --disable-left-sidebar — disables the network, disk I/O, FS and sensors modules 🚫
  • -3, --disable-quicklook — disables the quick look module 🔍
  • -4, --full-quicklook — disables all but quick look and load 🌟
  • -5, --disable-top — disables the top menu (QuickLook, CPU, MEM, SWAP, and LOAD) 🙅
  • -6, --meangpu — starts Glances in mean GPU mode 🎮
  • --disable-bold — disables bold mode in the terminal ✍️
  • --disable-bg — disables background colors in the terminal 🎨
  • --enable-process-extended — enables extended stats on the top process 🔬
  • -c CLIENT, --client CLIENT — connects to a Glances server by IPv4/IPv6 address, hostname or hostname:port 🔌
  • -s, --server — runs Glances in server mode 🖥️
  • --browser — starts the TUI Central Glances Browser; use –browser -w to start the WebUI Central Glances Browser 🌐
  • --disable-autodiscover — disables the autodiscover feature 🕵️
  • -p PORT, --port PORT — defines the client/server TCP port [default: 61209] 🔢
  • -B BIND_ADDRESS, --bind BIND_ADDRESS — binds the server to the given IPv4/IPv6 address or hostname 🪢
  • --username — defines a client/server username 👤
  • --password — defines a client/server password 🔐
  • --snmp-community SNMP_COMMUNITY — SNMP community 📡
  • --snmp-port SNMP_PORT — SNMP port 📡
  • --snmp-version SNMP_VERSION — SNMP version (1, 2c or 3) 📡
  • --snmp-user SNMP_USER — SNMP username (only for SNMPv3) 👤
  • --snmp-auth SNMP_AUTH — SNMP authentication key (only for SNMPv3) 🔑
  • --snmp-force — forces SNMP mode 💪
  • -t TIME, --time TIME — sets the refresh time in seconds [default: 3 sec] ⏱️
  • -w, --webserver — runs Glances in web server mode (FastAPI lib needed) 🌍
  • --enable-mcp — enables the MCP (Model Context Protocol) server alongside the web server (mcp package needed, see MCP (Model Context Protocol) server <#api-mcp>) 🤖
  • --mcp-path MCP_PATH — sets the MCP server mount path [default: /mcp] 🛤️
  • --cached-time CACHED_TIME — sets the server cache time [default: 1 sec] ⏳
  • --open-web-browser — tries to open the Web UI in the default Web browser 🪟
  • -q, --quiet — does not display the curses interface 🤫
  • -f PROCESS_FILTER, --process-filter PROCESS_FILTER — sets the process filter pattern (regular expression) 🔎
  • --process-short-name — forces short names for process names ✂️
  • --hide-kernel-threads — hides kernel threads in the process list (not available on Windows) 🙈
  • -b, --byte — displays network rate in bytes per second 🔢
  • --diskio-show-ramfs — shows RAM FS in the DiskIO plugin 💾
  • --diskio-iops — shows I/O per second in the DiskIO plugin 📊
  • --fahrenheit — displays temperature in Fahrenheit (default is Celsius) 🌡️
  • --fs-free-space — displays FS free space instead of used 🆓
  • --theme-white — optimizes display colors for a white background 🤍
  • --disable-check-update — disables the online Glances version check 🚫

🎮 INTERACTIVE COMMANDS 🎮

bestie these are the keys you can press while you're in Glances, and honestly there are so many, it's giving keyboard smash (but like, the good kind) ⌨️✨

  • ENTER — set the process filter
💀 note: on macOS please use CTRL+H to delete the filter. not a vibe but it is what it is.

the filter is a regular expression pattern, so:

  • gnome matches all processes starting with the gnome string
  • .*gnome.* matches all processes containing the gnome string
  • a — sort the process list automatically 🤖
    • if CPU >70%, sort processes by CPU usage
    • if MEM >70%, sort processes by MEM usage
    • if CPU iowait >60%, sort processes by I/O read and write
  • A — enable/disable the Application Monitoring Process 📱
  • b — switch between bit/s or Byte/s for network I/O 🔀
  • B — view disk I/O counters per second 💽
  • c — sort processes by CPU usage 🧠
  • C — enable/disable cloud stats ☁️
  • d — show/hide disk I/O stats 💾
  • D — enable/disable Docker stats 🐳
  • e — enable/disable top extended stats 🔬
  • E — erase the current process filter 🧽
  • f — show/hide file system and folder monitoring stats 🗂️
  • F — switch between file system used and free space 🔁
  • g — generate graphs for current history 📈
  • G — enable/disable GPU stats 🎮
  • h — show/hide the help screen 🆘
  • i — sort processes by I/O rate 📊
  • I — show/hide IP module 🌐
  • + — increase the selected process nice level / lower the priority (need right) — only in standalone mode ⬆️
  • - — decrease the selected process nice level / higher the priority (need right) — only in standalone mode ⬇️
  • k — kill the selected process (need right) — only in standalone mode 💀
  • K — show/hide TCP connections 🔗
  • l — show/hide log messages 📝
  • m — sort processes by MEM usage 🧮
  • M — reset the processes summary min/max 🔄
  • n — show/hide network stats 📡
  • N — show/hide current time 🕐
  • p — sort processes by name 🔤
  • P — enable/disable ports stats 🔌
  • q / ESC / CTRL-C — quit the current Glances session 👋
  • Q — show/hide IRQ module ⚡
  • r — reset history 🔁
  • R — show/hide RAID plugin 🗄️
  • s — show/hide sensors plugin 🌡️
  • S — enable/disable spark lines ✨
  • t — sort processes by CPU times (TIME+) ⏱️
  • T — view network I/O as a combination 🧩
  • u — sort processes by USER 👥
  • U — view cumulative network I/O ➕
  • V — show/hide VMS plugin 🖥️
  • w — delete finished warning log messages 🗑️
  • W — show/hide Wifi module 📶
  • x — delete finished warning and critical log messages 🗑️🔥
  • z — show/hide processes stats 📋
  • 0 — enable/disable Irix/Solaris mode

task's CPU usage will be divided by the total number of CPUs ➗

  • 1 — switch between global CPU and per-CPU stats 🧠
  • 2 — enable/disable the left sidebar 📑
  • 3 — enable/disable the quick look module 🔍
  • 4 — enable/disable all but quick look and load module 🌟
  • 5 — enable/disable the top menu (QuickLook, CPU, MEM, SWAP, and LOAD) 🙅
  • 6 — enable/disable mean GPU mode 🎮
  • 9 — switch the UI theme between black and white 🖤🤍
  • / — switch between process command line or command name 🔀
  • F5 or CTRL-R — refresh the user interface 🔄
  • SHIFT-LEFT — navigation left through the process sort ⬅️
  • SHIFT-RIGHT — navigation right through the process sort ➡️
  • LEFT — navigation left through the process name ⬅️
  • RIGHT — navigation right through the process name ➡️
  • UP — up in the processes list ⬆️
  • DOWN — down in the processes list ⬇️

and in the Glances client browser (you get there with the --browser command-line argument, bestie) 🦋:

  • ENTER — run the selected server ▶️
  • UP — up in the servers list ⬆️
  • DOWN — down in the servers list ⬇️
  • q / ESC — quit Glances 👋

💖 CONFIGURATION 💖

good news: no configuration file is mandatory to use Glances 🎉 like, she just works, no setup required.

but also — a configuration file is needed to access more settings 👀. so if you want the extra stuff, you're gonna want one 🫶

📍 LOCATION

Note 🫶 — there's a template waiting for you in the /usr{,/local}/share/doc/glances (Unix-like) directory, or you can grab it straight from GitHub at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nicolargo/glances/master/conf/glances.conf.

So here's where you're allowed to drop your glances.conf file, per OS — screenshot this, bestie:

Linux, SunOS 💅

  • ~/.config/glances/
  • /etc/glances/
  • /usr/share/doc/glances/

*BSD 🦋

  • ~/.config/glances/
  • /usr/local/etc/glances/
  • /usr/share/doc/glances/

macOS 🎀

  • ~/.config/glances/
  • ~/Library/Application Support/glances/
  • /usr/local/etc/glances/
  • /usr/share/doc/glances/

Windows 🪟

  • %APPDATA%\glances\glances.conf

All ✨

  • <venv_root_folder>/share/doc/glances/

Couple of Windows lore drops:

  • On Windows XP, %APPDATA% is C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data.
  • On Windows Vista and later it's C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming.

And the hierarchy, which is so important: user-specific options override system-wide options, and options given on the command line override both. Like, command line is the main character fr fr. 👑

✨ SYNTAX

Glances reads its configuration files in the ini syntax. Very demure, very classic. 🧚

There's a first section (called global) that's always available:

[global]
# Refresh rate (default is a minimum of 2 seconds)
# Can be overwritten by the -t <sec> option
# It is also possible to overwrite it in each plugin section
refresh=2
# Should Glances check if a newer version is available on PyPI ?
check_update=true
# History size (maximum number of values)
# Default is 1200 values (~1h with the default refresh rate)
history_size=1200
# Set the way Glances should display the date (default is %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z)
#strftime_format="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"
# Define external directory for loading additional plugins
# The layout follows the glances standard for plugin definitions
#plugin_dir=/home/user/dev/plugins

Then a second one concerning the user interface:

[outputs]
# Options for all UIs
#--------------------
# Separator in the Curses and WebUI interface (between top and others plugins)
separator=True
# Set the the Curses and WebUI interface left menu plugin list (comma-separated)
#left_menu=network,wifi,connections,ports,diskio,fs,irq,folders,raid,smart,sensors,now
# Limit the number of processes to display (in the WebUI)
max_processes_display=25
# Options for WebUI
#------------------
# Set URL prefix for the WebUI and the API
# Example: url_prefix=/glances/ => http://localhost/glances/
# Note: The final / is mandatory
# Default is no prefix (/)
#url_prefix=/glances/
# Set root path for WebUI statics files
# Why ? On Debian system, WebUI statics files are not provided.
# You can download it in a specific folder
# thanks to https://github.com/nicolargo/glances/issues/2021
# then configure this folder with the webui_root_path key
# Default is folder where glances_restful_api.py is hosted
#webui_root_path=
# CORS options
# Comma separated list of origins that should be permitted to make cross-origin requests.
# Default is *
#cors_origins=*
# Indicate that cookies should be supported for cross-origin requests.
# Default is True
#cors_credentials=True
# Comma separated list of HTTP methods that should be allowed for cross-origin requests.
# Default is *
#cors_methods=*
# Comma separated list of HTTP request headers that should be supported for cross-origin requests.
# Default is *
#cors_headers=*
# Define SSL files (keyfile_password is optional)
#ssl_keyfile=./glances.local+3-key.pem
#ssl_keyfile_password=kfp
#ssl_certfile=./glances.local+3.pem

Each plugin, export module, and application monitoring process (AMP) can have a section of its own. Obsessed honestly. Here's the CPU plugin, looking all cute:

[cpu]
disable=False
refresh=3
user_careful=50
user_warning=70
user_critical=90
iowait_careful=50
iowait_warning=70
iowait_critical=90
system_careful=50
system_warning=70
system_critical=90
steal_careful=50
steal_warning=70
steal_critical=90

An InfluxDB export module:

[influxdb]
# Configuration for the --export influxdb option
# https://influxdb.com/
host=localhost
port=8086
user=root
password=root
db=glances
prefix=localhost
#tags=foo:bar,spam:eggs

Or a Nginx AMP:

[amp_nginx]
# Nginx status page should be enabled (https://easyengine.io/tutorials/nginx/status-page/)
enable=true
regex=\/usr\/sbin\/nginx
refresh=60
one_line=false
status_url=http://localhost/nginx_status

🪄 Dynamic configuration values

With Glances 3.0 or higher, you can use dynamic configuration values by utilizing system commands. Which is genuinely iconic behavior ngl.

Say you want the prefix of an InfluxDB export to be the current hostname — do this:

[influxdb]
...
prefix=`hostname`

Or if you want to add the Operating System name as a tag:

[influxdb]
...
tags=system:`uname -a`

📝 LOGGING

Glances logs all of its internal messages to a log file. Every thought, documented. 💀

DEBUG messages can be logged using the -d option on the command line.

The location of the Glances log file depends on your operating system. You can display the full path of the Glances log file using the glances -V command line. Handy!

The file is automatically rotated when its size exceeds 1 MB. Self-care. 🌸

If you want to use another system path or change the log message, you can use your own logger configuration. First of all, you have to create a glances.json file with, for example, the following content (JSON format):

{
    "version": 1,
    "disable_existing_loggers": "False",
    "root": {
        "level": "INFO",
        "handlers": ["file", "console"]
    },
    "formatters": {
        "standard": {
            "format": "%(asctime)s -- %(levelname)s -- %(message)s"
        },
        "short": {
            "format": "%(levelname)s: %(message)s"
        },
        "free": {
            "format": "%(message)s"
        }
    },
    "handlers": {
        "file": {
            "level": "DEBUG",
            "class": "logging.handlers.RotatingFileHandler",
            "formatter": "standard",
            "filename": "/var/tmp/glances.log"
        },
        "console": {
            "level": "CRITICAL",
            "class": "logging.StreamHandler",
            "formatter": "free"
        }
    },
    "loggers": {
        "debug": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "DEBUG"
        },
        "verbose": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "INFO"
        },
        "standard": {
            "handlers": ["file"],
            "level": "INFO"
        },
        "requests": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "ERROR"
        },
        "elasticsearch": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "ERROR"
        },
        "elasticsearch.trace": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "ERROR"
        }
    }
}

and start Glances using the following command line:

LOG_CFG=<path>/glances.json glances
Note 👀 — Replace <path> with the directory where your glances.json file is hosted.

🎀 EXAMPLES

Okay these are the fun ones, live a little. 🌈

Monitor local machine, also called standalone mode, with the Text-based user interface (TUI):

$ glances

To monitor the local machine with the Web user interface (WebUI), run the following command line:

$ glances -w

then, open a Web Browser to the provided URL. Slay. 🔥

Monitor local machine and export stats to a CSV file:

$ glances –export csv –export-csv-file /tmp/glances.csv

Monitor local machine and export stats to an InfluxDB server with 5s refresh time (also possible to export to OpenTSDB, Cassandra, Statsd, ElasticSearch, RabbitMQ, and Riemann — we love options):

$ glances -t 5 –export influxdb

It is also possible to export stats to multiple endpoints:

$ glances -t 5 –export influxdb,statsd,csv

Start a Glances server (server mode):

$ glances -s

Connect Glances to a Glances server (client mode):

$ glances -c <ip_server>

Connect to a Glances server and export stats to a StatsD server:

$ glances -c <ip_server> –export statsd

Start the TUI Central Glances Browser:

$ glances –browser

Start the WebUI Central Glances Browser (new in Glances 4.3 or higher ✨):

$ glances –browser -w
If you do not want to see the local Glances Web Server in the browser list please use –disable-autodiscover option.

👑 AUTHOR

Nicolas Hennion aka Nicolargo — contact@nicolargo.com 💖

okay so the legal bit, bestie — keep it cute, keep it exact:

Copyright 2026, Nicolas Hennion

that's it, that's the whole section. slay. 🎀

and that's a wrap on GLANCES(1)!! 🦋 this page is from version 4.5.8, dated Oct 11, 2026 — like, literally the whole source/version + date footer, but make it a sign-off instead of a boring bottom line ✨ go forth and glances at everything, you absolute icon 👑💅

📦 where this page comes from