RamGuard is a fast, minimalist macOS menu bar system monitor for RAM, CPU, disk, network, and battery — with a built-in process manager that lets you actually kill what's hogging your memory, not just watch it. Native Swift, zero dependencies, ~288KB binary, ~18MB running.
At a glance: real-time RAM / CPU / SSD / network / battery in your menu bar, a searchable process list you can kill from, optional local-AI cleanup suggestions, and a runtime footprint small enough that the monitor never becomes the problem it's monitoring.
Left-click for the process list (search, sort, kill). Right-click to toggle which metrics show in the menu bar and to read battery for this Mac and connected Apple devices — including AirPods (left, right, and case).
Most system monitors are built to show you everything. RamGuard is built on a narrower idea: a menu bar tool should be glanceable, weigh almost nothing, and let you act.
- Minimalist by default. One compact readout —
M 81%— and nothing else until you ask for more. Right-click to add CPU, SSD, or network. Turn off what you don't want; the bar shrinks to fit. - Genuinely lightweight. A single ~288KB binary with no frameworks, no Electron, no background daemons. It holds around 18MB of RAM while running, and frees its view memory the moment you close the popover.
- Action, not just observation. RamGuard's reason to exist is the next step Activity Monitor makes slow: see what's eating your RAM, learn what it actually is, and end it — graceful quit or force, with a confirmation and a safety timer.
- Private and offline. No telemetry, no network calls, no account. The optional AI runs against a local Ollama model on your own machine — nothing leaves your Mac.
- One file, plain
swiftc. No Xcode project, no package manager, no build graph. Read it, audit it, build it in one command.
RamGuard is intentionally not trying to be a dashboard with graphs, sensors, weather, and history. It's the tool you reach for when your fans spin up and you want to know what and kill it in five seconds.
- Real-time readout of RAM, CPU, SSD, network, and battery — each one independently togglable via right-click.
- Compact labels (
M/C/S/↓↑/ battery glyph) that take minimal horizontal space; hidden metrics don't reserve room. - Battery + connected devices — optional battery percentage with a charge-aware icon; right-click lists battery for this Mac and connected Apple peripherals (AirPods, Magic Mouse/Trackpad/Keyboard).
- Memory-pressure aware — color shifts as pressure climbs, plus independently toggleable alerts when RAM crosses 80% and/or 90%.
- RAM overview bar — segmented App / Wired / Compressed / Free breakdown with a live memory-pressure indicator.
- Full process list — every process with icon, name, PID, type, CPU%, and a RAM usage bar.
- Search, sort, filter — live search by name or PID; sort by RAM / CPU / name / PID / runtime; filter by User / System / Background / High-RAM.
- Kill from the list — click a process to reveal Kill (SIGTERM) / Force (SIGKILL) with inline confirmation and a 5-second auto-cancel. Protected system processes can't be killed.
- "What is this process?" — expand any row for a plain-English description (100+ built in); unknown ones get a one-click web lookup.
- Copy footprint — one click copies a full system snapshot (RAM breakdown, SSD, top processes) for pasting into a chat or AI.
- Connects to a local Ollama model (default
gemma3) to classify processes as SAFE / CAUTION / CRITICAL with reasoning. - Optional, opt-in auto-kill limited to background, non-protected processes, fully logged.
- Everything runs on-device — no cloud, no API key.
brew install clintoncodewell/tap/ramguardThis builds from source with swiftc, so there's no Gatekeeper prompt or quarantine step. Update later with brew upgrade ramguard.
After install, link it into ~/Applications so it shows in Spotlight/Launchpad (the formula prints this too):
ln -sf "$(brew --prefix)/opt/ramguard/RamGuard.app" ~/Applications/RamGuard.app
open ~/Applications/RamGuard.appGrab the latest RamGuard.zip from Releases, unzip, and drag RamGuard.app to /Applications.
Because the app is open-source and ad-hoc signed (not notarized through a paid Apple Developer account), clear the download quarantine once:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RamGuard.app
open /Applications/RamGuard.app(Or: try to open it, then approve it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.)
Requires Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).
git clone https://github.com/clintoncodewell/ramguard.git
cd ramguard
./build.sh
cp -R RamGuard.app /Applications/
open /Applications/RamGuard.appRamGuard runs as a menu bar app — no Dock icon, no Cmd+Tab entry.
- Left-click the menu bar item → open the popover (process list, search, kill, settings).
- Right-click the menu bar item → toggle which metrics show (Memory, CPU, SSD, Network) and Quit.
- Click a process row → expand its description, or reveal the kill controls.
- Type in the search field → live-filter by name or PID.
Want it to launch at login? System Settings → General → Login Items → + and add RamGuard.
Is RamGuard free and open source? Yes — MIT licensed, single-file Swift, no paid tiers.
How much memory does it use? About 18MB while running. The binary is ~268KB and it links no third-party frameworks.
Does it work on Apple Silicon and Intel? Yes. Building from source compiles for your Mac. Pre-built release binaries currently target Apple Silicon — open an issue if you need a universal build.
Can it kill or quit processes? Yes — that's the point. Click any process and choose graceful quit (SIGTERM) or force (SIGKILL). Protected system processes are blocked.
Can I show CPU, network, disk, or battery in the menu bar too? Yes — right-click the menu bar item and toggle each metric on or off independently. Memory and SSD are on by default; CPU, network, and battery are off until you enable them.
Can it show my MacBook battery and AirPods battery? Yes. Enable Battery from the right-click menu to show your Mac's battery percentage with a charge-aware icon. The right-click menu also lists battery levels for this Mac and connected Apple peripherals (AirPods, Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard).
Does it send any data anywhere? No. No telemetry, no accounts, no network calls. The optional AI feature talks only to a local Ollama instance on your own machine.
Does it need an account or internet connection? No. It reads system stats directly from the macOS kernel and runs entirely offline.
Which macOS versions are supported? macOS 13 (Ventura) and later.
Config lives at ~/.config/ramguard/config.json (human-editable; most options are also in Settings or the right-click menu).
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
menuBarRAM |
true |
Show RAM % in the menu bar |
menuBarCPU |
false |
Show CPU % in the menu bar |
menuBarSSD |
true |
Show SSD % in the menu bar |
menuBarNet |
false |
Show network down/up rate in the menu bar |
menuBarBattery |
false |
Show battery % (charge-aware icon) in the menu bar |
refreshInterval |
2 |
Seconds between refreshes (2/5/10/30) |
alert80 |
true |
Notify when RAM crosses 80% (toggle in Settings → RAM Alerts) |
alert90 |
false |
Notify when RAM crosses 90% (toggle in Settings → RAM Alerts) |
maxProcesses |
50 |
Max process rows shown |
groupHelpers |
true |
Merge helper/XPC processes under their parent app |
showCPU |
true |
Show CPU% in process row metadata |
showThreads |
false |
Show thread count in process row metadata |
aiEnabled |
false |
Enable local Ollama AI analysis |
aiAutoKill |
false |
Allow AI to auto-kill safe background processes |
aiModel |
gemma3 |
Ollama model name |
ollamaURL |
http://localhost:11434 |
Ollama server URL |
Everything lives in a single main.swift (~1100 lines). No Xcode project, no Package.swift, no storyboards, no SwiftUI.
ramguard/
├── main.swift # All app logic
├── build.sh # swiftc -Osize + strip
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
└── RamGuard.app/Contents/{Info.plist, MacOS/ramguard}
| Layer | Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Swift | Native, fast, no runtime overhead |
| UI | AppKit (NSStatusItem + NSPopover) | Native menu bar integration, minimal memory |
| Layout | Manual frames | No AutoLayout overhead |
| Data | Mach APIs (host_statistics64, proc_pidinfo, getifaddrs) |
Direct kernel calls, no shell-out |
| Build | swiftc -Osize + strip |
No Xcode project needed |
Data sources: host_statistics64(HOST_VM_INFO64) for RAM, host_statistics(HOST_CPU_LOAD_INFO) tick deltas for system CPU, getifaddrs() byte-counter deltas for network rate, FileManager/URLResourceValues for disk, IOPSCopyPowerSourcesList + an in-process IORegistry sweep for battery, and proc_listallpids + proc_pidinfo for per-process data.
Memory discipline: icons cached per app, an autoreleasepool around the fetch loop, the process list and view hierarchy freed when the popover closes, and malloc_zone_pressure_relief to return dirty pages to the OS.
Issues and PRs welcome. The whole app is one readable file — start at the // MARK: headings. Keep the constraints: single file, plain swiftc, no SwiftUI, no AutoLayout, no third-party dependencies, and stay under ~20MB runtime footprint.
MIT © 2026 Clinton Cunningham