A while ago, I stumbled upon ctop; a small, yet handy command-line tool to interact with Docker containers and gather essential metrics. You know docker stats? ctop is docker stats on steroids. The open-source tool is available for free and can be installed directly on Linux and macOS.

With ctop, you get more than just fundamental metrics. Overall, ctop combines the following features in one single tool:

• display memory consumption per container (learn how to limit memory consumption)
• display CPU utilization per container (learn how to limit CPU utilization)
• direct access to the container log stream
• essential container interaction like starting. stopping and so on
• execute commands in containers

I use ctop because it is efficient and straightforward. All features are accessible within just one keystroke.

Install CTOP

Linux

Manual Installation:

# Download ctop
sudo wget https://github.com/bcicen/ctop/releases/download/v0.7.3/ctop-0.7.3-linux-amd64 -O /usr/local/bin/ctop
# change file mod to make it executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ctop

MacOS

Installation with Homebrew:

brew install ctop

Manual installation:

# Download ctop
sudo curl -Lo /usr/local/bin/ctop https://github.com/bcicen/ctop/releases/download/v0.7.3/ctop-0.7.3-darwin-amd64
# change file mod to make it executable
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/ctop

Run It In A Container

Alternatively, you can run ctop directly inside of a Docker container.

docker run --rm -it --name ctop-container \
  --volume /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  quay.io/vektorlab/ctop:latest

CTOP Keybindings

Navigation in ctop is simple but efficient. Learn the following keybindings to get most out of ctop.

Stream Container Logs With CTOP

From the main view, select the desired container using arrow keys and hit l top access the log stream of the container

Navigate CTOP With The Container Menu

While you are learning the keybindings, you could use the container menu to navigate. Just select a container - arrow keys - and hit [ENTER]. ctop will bring up a contextual menu, showing all available actions in the context of a particular Docker container.

Conclusion

I love the simplicity and efficiency of ctop. I can access a bunch of container-related features within just one keystroke. It makes investigating super-efficient and increases overall productivity. Do you use another tool to achieve this? I would love to learn about your setup and see other opportunities.