plottypus press kit (1.0.0, 23 September 2026)
https://plottypus.com/press

ONE LINE
plottypus is a system monitor for Apple Silicon Macs that runs in the
terminal: one Rust binary, no sudo.

ONE PARAGRAPH
plottypus is a terminal system monitor for Macs with Apple Silicon (M1 to M5,
including Pro, Max and Ultra), written in Rust on ratatui. It shows CPU, GPU,
memory, heat, fans, battery, network, disk and per-process watts in one TUI,
without sudo. On the M5 Pro it reads live CPU watts from the SMC power rails.
On other chips it holds the last published IOReport value with its age, and
shows — once that value is more than 10 s old. On macOS 27 that is often: the
counters publish in batches up to 108 s apart, and sometimes not for tens of
minutes. It costs about 1.5% of one core at the default 500 ms, with 0 redraws
while idle. Version 1.0.0 came out on 23 September 2026. Free to use under the
EULA. The source is not open. A paid Pro tier is planned and not on sale yet.

KEY FACTS
Name               plottypus (lowercase; the command is `plottypus`)
Version            1.0.0, released 23 September 2026
Platform           macOS on Apple Silicon, M1 to M5, including Pro, Max and
                   Ultra
Tested on          A MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro (Mac17,8): 6 Super + 12
                   Performance cores, 20-core GPU, 24 GB; macOS 27.0 (26A428)
Privileges         No sudo
Power on macOS 27  Live CPU watts from SMC power rails on the M5 Pro
                   (Mac17,8), within about 10% of IOReport
Other chips        On Macs without mapped SMC rails, CPU watts show ≈ with an
                   age between batches, and a dash (—) once the last batch is
                   over 10 s old
Self-cost          About 1.5% of one core at the default 500 ms; about 1% of
                   one core at 1 s; 0 redraws while idle (M5 Pro (Mac17,8),
                   macOS 27.0, on AC power, no sudo, median of 3, 160×45)
Size               Binary about 2.2 MB; download 1.1 MB
Tests              1,649 tests
Sensors            3,626 SMC keys on the M5 Pro
Themes             10 built-in themes, plus auto (built from your terminal's
                   palette)
Privacy            Makes no network connections and sends no telemetry
Licence            Free to use under the EULA. The source is not open.
Price              Free. Every live reading stays free. Pro is not on sale
                   yet.
Built with         Rust, ratatui
Made by            Lay Sheth, solo, India

DESCRIBING PLOTTYPUS
write: Free to use under the EULA. The source is not open.
  not: open source, MIT, or "on GitHub"

write: Live CPU watts without sudo on the M5 Pro. On other Apple Silicon chips
       it holds the last IOReport value with its age, and shows — once it is
       more than 10 s old.
  not: live CPU watts on every Mac

write: Built for M1 to M5, including Pro, Max and Ultra. Tested on one Mac: an
       M5 Pro running macOS 27.0.
  not: tested on every Apple Silicon Mac, or a list of supported macOS
       versions

write: macmon 0.8.2 and mactop 2.1.5 read 0.0 W CPU in 20 of 20 samples (M5
       Pro, macOS 27.0, 24 September 2026).
  not: the first or only tool that reads CPU watts, or "every other monitor
       shows 0 W"

write: powermetrics needs sudo; we did not run it for the macOS 27 comparison.
  not: powermetrics shows 0 W

write: Makes no network connections and sends no telemetry.
  not: opens no sockets (it opens a local route socket to find the default
       network interface)

write: Ad-hoc signed, not notarized.
  not: signed with a Developer ID, or notarized

write: Free. Every live reading stays free. Pro is not on sale yet.
  not: a Pro price, trial or subscription as if you can buy it today

write: Timeline, reports, alerts in the background, recording and exporters
       are planned for 1.1.
  not: any 1.1 feature as part of 1.0.0

write: Install with the curl installer or the tarball; a Homebrew tap is
       coming.
  not: brew install plottypus

write: No user, install or star counts are published.
  not: an estimate of users, downloads or stars

FILES
mark/        the braille platypus mark, SVG and PNG, for dark and light pages
screenshots/ PNG captures at 2x; files marked "demo" use the canned --demo session
video/       GIF, MP4, WebM and poster of the cargo build session

screenshots/hero-work.png: Work surface during cargo build
screenshots/hero-demo.png (demo): Work surface, full process list
screenshots/glance.png (demo): Glance surface
screenshots/power-expanded.png (demo): Power, expanded
screenshots/cpu-expanded.png (demo): CPU, expanded
screenshots/procs.png (demo): Process table, tree view
screenshots/theme-paper.png (demo): The paper theme

You may use the screenshots, video and mark in articles and videos about plottypus.

CONTACT
plottypus is built by Lay Sheth, a solo developer in India.
hello@plottypus.com
