bash
ssh user@server 'htop'Notes
Fast way to inspect a remote machine without a long interactive shell session.
Htop Remote, Container, and Server Recipes
Common htop workflows for SSH sessions, containers, services, and production troubleshooting on Linux hosts.
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Remote SSH workflows
Run htop on servers, over SSH, and in narrow terminal environments.
Run htop inside tmux on a remote host
Keep monitoring alive if your connection drops.
bashANYsshtmuxremote
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ssh user@server 'tmux new-session -A -s ops htop'Notes
Great for production monitoring sessions that should survive disconnects.
bash
sudo htopNotes
Often needed to inspect other users' processes fully or send privileged signals.
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sudo htop --readonlyNotes
Useful on production systems when you want observability but not intervention from the UI.
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sudo htop -u postgres -tNotes
Shows process relationships for Postgres background workers and connections.
Containers and services
Recipe patterns for containers and system services.
Run htop inside a running container
Inspect the process table from the container's perspective.
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docker exec -it web htopNotes
Useful for debugging entrypoints, workers, and PID 1 behavior.
Run htop in a Kubernetes pod
Attach an interactive process view to a pod shell.
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kubectl exec -it deploy/api -- htopNotes
Works when htop is present in the container image.
Watch only systemd-managed service processes by pattern
Generate a PID list for one service family.
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htop -p "$(pgrep -d, -f 'nginx:|nginx')"Notes
Useful when workers or master processes share a recognizable command pattern.
Start a memory-focused out-of-memory investigation
Sort by memory and refresh quickly.
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sudo htop --sort-key=PERCENT_MEM -d 5Notes
Good first step when a server is swapping or near OOM.
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sudo htop --sort-key=PERCENT_CPU -d 5Notes
Useful when bursts are too short to catch with a slower refresh interval.
More in htop
Htop Troubleshooting and FAQ Recipes
Troubleshooting recipes for missing visibility, permission issues, terminal quirks, and common htop interpretation mistakes.
Htop Batch Alternatives, Exports, and Companion Commands
Practical command-line companions and non-interactive alternatives to htop for logs, scripts, and copyable output.
Htop Config, Persistence, and Theming
Persist htop settings, edit configuration files, and manage practical theming and display preferences across sessions.
Htop Columns, Meters, Threads, and Display Options
Customize meters, visible columns, threads, kernel tasks, and display density for different monitoring scenarios.
Htop Process Actions, Signals, and Priority Changes
Use htop to renice, kill, tag, and inspect processes, including shortcuts for signals, strace, lsof, and affinity-related workflows.
Htop Navigation, Search, Filter, Sort, and Tree View
Interactive keys and workflows for moving around htop, searching processes, filtering by command, changing sort columns, and working in tree view.