GLANCES(1) Glances GLANCES(1)

glances - An eye on your system

glances [OPTIONS]

glances is a cross-platform curses-based monitoring tool that aims to present a maximum of information in a minimum of space, ideally fitting in a classic 80x24 terminal or larger for more details. It can adapt dynamically to the displayed information depending on the terminal size. It can also work in client/server mode. Remote monitoring can be performed via a terminal or web interface.

glances is written in Python and uses the psutil library to get information from your system.

show this help message and exit
show the program’s version number and exit
enable debug mode
path to the configuration file
path to a directory containing additional plugins
display modules (plugins & exports) list and exit
disable PLUGIN (comma-separated list)
enable PLUGIN (comma-separated list)
display stats to stdout (comma-separated list of plugins/plugins.attribute)
enable EXPORT module (comma-separated list)
file path for CSV exporter
file path for JSON exporter
disable process module (reduce Glances CPU consumption)
disable the Web UI (only the RESTful API will respond)
light mode for Curses UI (disable all but the top menu)
-0, --disable-irix
task’s CPU usage will be divided by the total number of CPUs
-1, --percpu
start Glances in per CPU mode
-2, --disable-left-sidebar
disable network, disk I/O, FS and sensors modules
-3, --disable-quicklook
disable quick look module
-4, --full-quicklook
disable all but quick look and load
-5, --disable-top
disable top menu (QuickLook, CPU, MEM, SWAP, and LOAD)
-6, --meangpu
start Glances in mean GPU mode
enable the history mode
disable bold mode in the terminal
disable background colors in the terminal
enable extended stats on top process
connect to a Glances server by IPv4/IPv6 address, hostname or hostname:port
run Glances in server mode
start TUI Central Glances Browser use –browser -w to start WebUI Central Glances Browser
disable autodiscover feature
define the client/server TCP port [default: 61209]
bind server to the given IPv4/IPv6 address or hostname
define a client/server username
define a client/server password
SNMP community
SNMP port
SNMP version (1, 2c or 3)
SNMP username (only for SNMPv3)
SNMP authentication key (only for SNMPv3)
force SNMP mode
set refresh time in seconds [default: 3 sec]
run Glances in web server mode (FastAPI lib needed)
set the server cache time [default: 1 sec]
try to open the Web UI in the default Web browser
do not display the curses interface
set the process filter pattern (regular expression)
force short name for processes name
hide kernel threads in the process list (not available on Windows)
display network rate in bytes per second
show RAM FS in the DiskIO plugin
show I/O per second in the DiskIO plugin
display temperature in Fahrenheit (default is Celsius)
display FS free space instead of used
optimize display colors for a white background
disable online Glances version check

The following commands (key pressed) are supported while in Glances:

Set the process filter

NOTE:

On macOS please use CTRL-H to delete filter.

The filter is a regular expression pattern:

  • gnome: matches all processes starting with the gnome string
  • .*gnome.*: matches all processes containing the gnome string
Sort process list automatically
  • If CPU >70%, sort processes by CPU usage
  • If MEM >70%, sort processes by MEM usage
  • If CPU iowait >60%, sort processes by I/O read and write
Enable/disable the Application Monitoring Process
Switch between bit/s or Byte/s for network I/O
View disk I/O counters per second
Sort processes by CPU usage
Enable/disable cloud stats
Show/hide disk I/O stats
Enable/disable Docker stats
Enable/disable top extended stats
Erase the current process filter
Show/hide file system and folder monitoring stats
Switch between file system used and free space
Generate graphs for current history
Enable/disable GPU stats
Show/hide the help screen
Sort processes by I/O rate
Show/hide IP module
+
Increase selected process nice level / Lower the priority (need right) - Only in standalone mode.
-
Decrease selected process nice level / Higher the priority (need right) - Only in standalone mode.
Kill selected process (need right) - Only in standalone mode.
Show/hide TCP connections
Show/hide log messages
Sort processes by MEM usage
Reset processes summary min/max
Show/hide network stats
Show/hide current time
Sort processes by name
Enable/Disable ports stats
Quit the current Glances session
Show/hide IRQ module
Reset history
Show/hide RAID plugin
Show/hide sensors stats
Enable/disable spark lines
Sort process by CPU times (TIME+)
View network I/O as a combination
Sort processes by USER
View cumulative network I/O
Delete finished warning log messages
Show/hide Wifi module
Delete finished warning and critical log messages
Show/hide processes stats
0
Enable/disable Irix/Solaris mode

The task’s CPU usage will be divided by the total number of CPUs

1
Switch between global CPU and per-CPU stats
2
Enable/disable the left sidebar
3
Enable/disable the quick look module
4
Enable/disable all but quick look and load module
5
Enable/disable the top menu (QuickLook, CPU, MEM, SWAP, and LOAD)
6
Enable/disable mean GPU mode
9
Switch UI theme between black and white
/
Switch between process command line or command name
Refresh user interface
Navigation left through the process sort
Navigation right through the process sort
Up in the processes list
Down in the processes list

In the Glances client browser (accessible through the --browser command line argument):

Run the selected server
Up in the servers list
Down in the servers list
Quit Glances

No configuration file is mandatory to use Glances.

Furthermore, a configuration file is needed to access more settings.

NOTE:

A template is available in the /usr{,/local}/share/doc/glances (Unix-like) directory or directly on GitHub.

You can place your glances.conf file in the following locations:

Linux, SunOS ~/.config/glances/, /etc/glances/, /usr/share/doc/glances/
*BSD ~/.config/glances/, /usr/local/etc/glances/, /usr/share/doc/glances/
macOS ~/.config/glances/, ~/Library/Application Support/glances/, /usr/local/etc/glances/, /usr/share/doc/glances/
Windows %APPDATA%\glances\glances.conf
All 0.0 • 2 <venv_root_folder>/share/doc/glances/ 168u
  • On Windows XP, %APPDATA% is: C:\Documents and Settings\<USERNAME>\Application Data.
  • On Windows Vista and later: C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming.

User-specific options override system-wide options, and options given on the command line overrides both.

Glances read configuration files in the ini syntax.

A first section (called global) is available:

[global]
# Refresh rate (default is a minimum of 2 seconds)
# Can be overwritten by the -t <sec> option
# It is also possible to overwrite it in each plugin section
refresh=2
# Should Glances check if a newer version is available on PyPI ?
check_update=true
# History size (maximum number of values)
# Default is 1200 values (~1h with the default refresh rate)
history_size=1200
# Set the way Glances should display the date (default is %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z)
#strftime_format="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"
# Define external directory for loading additional plugins
# The layout follows the glances standard for plugin definitions
#plugin_dir=/home/user/dev/plugins

than a second one concerning the user interface:

[outputs]
# Options for all UIs
#--------------------
# Separator in the Curses and WebUI interface (between top and others plugins)
separator=True
# Set the the Curses and WebUI interface left menu plugin list (comma-separated)
#left_menu=network,wifi,connections,ports,diskio,fs,irq,folders,raid,smart,sensors,now
# Limit the number of processes to display (in the WebUI)
max_processes_display=25
# Options for WebUI
#------------------
# Set URL prefix for the WebUI and the API
# Example: url_prefix=/glances/ => http://localhost/glances/
# Note: The final / is mandatory
# Default is no prefix (/)
#url_prefix=/glances/
# Set root path for WebUI statics files
# Why ? On Debian system, WebUI statics files are not provided.
# You can download it in a specific folder
# thanks to https://github.com/nicolargo/glances/issues/2021
# then configure this folder with the webui_root_path key
# Default is folder where glances_restfull_api.py is hosted
#webui_root_path=
# CORS options
# Comma separated list of origins that should be permitted to make cross-origin requests.
# Default is *
#cors_origins=*
# Indicate that cookies should be supported for cross-origin requests.
# Default is True
#cors_credentials=True
# Comma separated list of HTTP methods that should be allowed for cross-origin requests.
# Default is *
#cors_methods=*
# Comma separated list of HTTP request headers that should be supported for cross-origin requests.
# Default is *
#cors_headers=*

Each plugin, export module, and application monitoring process (AMP) can have a section. Below is an example for the CPU plugin:

[cpu]
disable=False
refresh=3
user_careful=50
user_warning=70
user_critical=90
iowait_careful=50
iowait_warning=70
iowait_critical=90
system_careful=50
system_warning=70
system_critical=90
steal_careful=50
steal_warning=70
steal_critical=90

an InfluxDB export module:

[influxdb]
# Configuration for the --export influxdb option
# https://influxdb.com/
host=localhost
port=8086
user=root
password=root
db=glances
prefix=localhost
#tags=foo:bar,spam:eggs

or a Nginx AMP:

[amp_nginx]
# Nginx status page should be enabled (https://easyengine.io/tutorials/nginx/status-page/)
enable=true
regex=\/usr\/sbin\/nginx
refresh=60
one_line=false
status_url=http://localhost/nginx_status

With Glances 3.0 or higher, you can use dynamic configuration values by utilizing system commands. For example, if you want to set the prefix of an InfluxDB export to the current hostname, use:

[influxdb]
...
prefix=`hostname`

Or if you want to add the Operating System name as a tag:

[influxdb]
...
tags=system:`uname -a`

Glances logs all of its internal messages to a log file.

DEBUG messages can be logged using the -d option on the command line.

The location of the Glances log file depends on your operating system. You can display the full path of the Glances log file using the glances -V command line.

The file is automatically rotated when its size exceeds 1 MB.

If you want to use another system path or change the log message, you can use your logger configuration. First of all, you have to create a glances.json file with, for example, the following content (JSON format):

{
    "version": 1,
    "disable_existing_loggers": "False",
    "root": {
        "level": "INFO",
        "handlers": ["file", "console"]
    },
    "formatters": {
        "standard": {
            "format": "%(asctime)s -- %(levelname)s -- %(message)s"
        },
        "short": {
            "format": "%(levelname)s: %(message)s"
        },
        "free": {
            "format": "%(message)s"
        }
    },
    "handlers": {
        "file": {
            "level": "DEBUG",
            "class": "logging.handlers.RotatingFileHandler",
            "formatter": "standard",
            "filename": "/var/tmp/glances.log"
        },
        "console": {
            "level": "CRITICAL",
            "class": "logging.StreamHandler",
            "formatter": "free"
        }
    },
    "loggers": {
        "debug": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "DEBUG"
        },
        "verbose": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "INFO"
        },
        "standard": {
            "handlers": ["file"],
            "level": "INFO"
        },
        "requests": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "ERROR"
        },
        "elasticsearch": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "ERROR"
        },
        "elasticsearch.trace": {
            "handlers": ["file", "console"],
            "level": "ERROR"
        }
    }
}

and start Glances using the following command line:

LOG_CFG=<path>/glances.json glances

NOTE:

Replace <path> with the directory where your glances.json file is hosted.

Monitor local machine, also called standalone mode, with the Text-based user interface (TUI):

$ glances

To monitor the local machine with the Web user interface (WebUI), , run the following command line:

$ glances -w

then, open a Web Browser to the provided URL.

Monitor local machine and export stats to a CSV file:

$ glances –export csv –export-csv-file /tmp/glances.csv

Monitor local machine and export stats to an InfluxDB server with 5s refresh time (also possible to export to OpenTSDB, Cassandra, Statsd, ElasticSearch, RabbitMQ, and Riemann):

$ glances -t 5 –export influxdb

It is also possible to export stats to multiple endpoints:

$ glances -t 5 –export influxdb,statsd,csv

Start a Glances server (server mode):

$ glances -s

Connect Glances to a Glances server (client mode):

$ glances -c <ip_server>

Connect to a Glances server and export stats to a StatsD server:

$ glances -c <ip_server> –export statsd

Start the TUI Central Glances Browser:

$ glances –browser

Start the WebUI Central Glances Browser (new in Glances 4.3 or higher):

$ glances –browser -w

If you do not want to see the local Glances Web Server in the browser list please use –disable-autodiscover option.

Nicolas Hennion aka Nicolargo <contact@nicolargo.com>

2025, Nicolas Hennion

March 22, 2025 4.3.1