# plottypus docs

Canonical: https://plottypus.com/docs

Last updated: 2026-09-23

**docs**

Everything here describes plottypus 1.0.0, the version you can download today. Features planned for 1.1 are marked as coming, never as available.

## Start[#](https://plottypus.com/docs#start)

- **[Install](https://plottypus.com/docs/install)**: Install plottypus 1.0.0 on an Apple Silicon Mac with the install script or the tarball, and check its SHA-256 yourself.
- **[Quickstart](https://plottypus.com/docs/quickstart)**: Five minutes with plottypus: the two surfaces, the footer, the process table and the three keys worth learning first.
- **[Supported Macs](https://plottypus.com/docs/supported-macs)**: Which Apple Silicon Macs plottypus 1.0.0 runs on, what each kind of Mac shows, and what has and has not been checked on real hardware.

## Reading the screen[#](https://plottypus.com/docs#reading-the-screen)

- **[Surfaces: Work and Glance](https://plottypus.com/docs/surfaces)**: plottypus has two layouts. Work puts the machine beside the process table; Glance is one column of graphs for a small always-on window.
- **[Panels](https://plottypus.com/docs/panels)**: What every number in the cpu, gpu, mem, heat, power, net and disk panels means, where it comes from, and when it is absent instead of zero.
- **[Processes](https://plottypus.com/docs/processes)**: The process table: per-core CPU like Activity Monitor, footprint memory, why some rows show a dash, sorting, tree, filter, and signals that cannot hit the wrong pid.

## Using it[#](https://plottypus.com/docs#using-it)

- **[Keys](https://plottypus.com/docs/keys)**: Every key in plottypus 1.0.0 for the default, htop and btop profiles, plus the mouse. Taken from the keymap source, the same table the in-app help reads.
- **[Settings and config file](https://plottypus.com/docs/settings)**: The settings page, where config.toml lives, every key with its default, and how plottypus saves without touching your comments.
- **[Themes and glass](https://plottypus.com/docs/themes)**: How plottypus builds its colours from your terminal's palette, the ten built-in themes, glass mode for translucent windows, extra contrast, NO\_COLOR and tmux.

## Scripting[#](https://plottypus.com/docs#scripting)

- **[JSON output](https://plottypus.com/docs/json)**: plottypus --json and --json-stream, schema 1: every field, its unit, when it is null, and the names it shares with macmon.
- **[Diagnose and doctor](https://plottypus.com/docs/diagnose-doctor)**: plottypus --diagnose gives one verdict on the Mac with the evidence behind it; plottypus doctor prints what this Mac exposes, for bug reports.

## Reference[#](https://plottypus.com/docs#reference)

- **[Pro and the licence file](https://plottypus.com/docs/pro-licence)**: What is free, what Pro will add, and how the offline Ed25519 licence file works. Pro is not on sale yet.
- **[Troubleshooting](https://plottypus.com/docs/troubleshooting)**: Broken graphs, wrong colours, tmux and ssh, Terminal.app, missing sensors, and processes that show a dash: what causes each and what to do.
- **[FAQ](https://plottypus.com/docs/faq)**: Short answers: sudo, network, cost, why a dash instead of zero, why CPU watts blink on macOS 27, and how plottypus differs from powermetrics and Activity Monitor.