jolt – terminal-based battery and energy monitor

jolt is a terminal-based application for monitoring battery health, power consumption and process energy usage. It helps laptop users understand how their system consumes electricity and identify applications that may be reducing battery life.

The application displays battery charge percentage, estimated remaining runtime, health and cycle count in an interactive terminal interface. It also reports power consumption and, where supported, provides information about CPU and GPU energy usage.

An important feature is its process monitoring functionality. jolt identifies running processes and estimates their energy impact, presenting the information with colour-coded indicators. This makes it easier to identify demanding applications and investigate unexpected battery drain.

Historical graphs show how battery charge and energy consumption change over time. An optional background daemon continues collecting information when the interactive interface is closed, allowing users to examine historical activity later.

The interface includes more than ten built-in themes, automatic light and dark appearance detection, and keyboard-driven navigation. Selected processes can also be terminated directly from the application.

On Linux, power measurements require appropriate permissions for the processor’s Running Average Power Limit (RAPL) interfaces. Battery monitoring can function independently of these permissions.

This is free and open source software.

Key Features

  • Monitor battery charge percentage, health and cycle count.
  • Display estimated remaining battery runtime.
  • Measure system power consumption on supported hardware.
  • CPU and GPU energy information where available.
  • Identify running processes with high estimated energy consumption.
  • Colour-coded process energy indicators.
  • Historical graphs showing battery and power consumption trends.
  • Background daemon for collecting historical information.
  • Terminate selected processes directly from the interface.
  • Export monitoring data in JSON format for scripting.
  • More than ten built-in themes with automatic light and dark appearance detection.
  • Keyboard-driven navigation and configurable settings.
  • Cross-platform support – runs on Linux and macOS.

Website: github.com/jordond/jolt
Support:
Developer: jordond
License: MIT License

jolt animation
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jolt is written in Rust. Learn Rust with our recommended free books and free tutorials.


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Read our verdict in the software roundup.


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