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pranshuparmarOps & cloud

witr

Trace any running process, port, container, or file back to its originating parent chain

  • DevOps
  • Monitoring / Observability
  • CLI
  • Web
  • Linux
  • macOS
  • Windows
  • Browser
  • Self-hostable
  • Runs locally
Open websiteView on GitHub
witr screenshot
Popularity
22.4k Stars
GitHub stars
Recent activity
8/15/2026
Maintenance status unclear
License
APACHE-2.0
Permissive

Why it matters

We look beyond stars: what problem it solves, whether it creates real utility, and what makes its approach worth noticing.

Last 90 days

Problem

Standard system tools like ps, lsof, and docker ps display active state but require manual correlation across multiple layers to find what started a process.

Practical value

Provides CLI and TUI views to trace processes, ports, containers, or files back to their launch chain, supporting JSON output and cross-platform binaries.

Innovation / differentiation

Aggregates context from systemd, process managers, containers, and OS processes to automatically construct a single causality tree.

Leverage potential

Distributed as a static binary across major package managers like Homebrew, APT, and Winget, fitting easily into shell workflows and automation.

Why now

Development stacks increasingly layer containers, process supervisors, and system services, creating a clear need for unified origin tracing.

Community activity

In the last 90 days there were 12 new issues and 16 pull requests; the bounded issue/PR samples include 11 issue authors and 13 PR contributors, with 1 releases.

Maintainer responsiveness

The 12-issue window sample had a 25% close rate, and the 16-pull-request sample had a 50% merge rate. Maintainer-response observations covered 100% of that issue sample, with a 25% response rate and median first response of 22.9 hours.

13 contributors in PR sample1 releasesIssue response rate 25% · sample 12 (100% coverage)Median first response 22.9hPR merge rate 50% · 16 sampled in window

Key highlights

  • Trace process dependencies from systemd, PM2, or supervisors to active execution nodes
  • Locate starting chains by port number, file path, container ID, or process PID
  • Provide interactive TUI dashboard alongside standard terminal CLI commands

Quick start

How it is installed, how hard it is, and where to start.

Where it runs

To be confirmed

Difficulty

To be confirmed

Self-hostableRuns locally
  1. 01Run the quick installation script on Linux, macOS, or FreeBSD:
  2. 02Install on Windows using PowerShell script:
  3. 03Alternatively, install via Homebrew or other package managers:
  4. 04Trace the launch origin by port number, process PID, or filename:
  5. 05Try the interactive TUI mode in the browser simulator:

Best for

  • Teams that want data on their own servers
  • Developers who want to try it on their machine

More about it

witr is a diagnostic utility built to answer why a process, port, container, or file is active on a system. Instead of requiring manual correlation across ps, lsof, and systemctl, witr displays the multi-layered parent chain responsible for execution. It includes CLI execution, an interactive TUI dashboard, and machine-readable JSON support.

Sources

Each field shows its status and source — expand to review.

14 · Expand

  • capability tags

    Verified

    monitoring

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • editor note

    Verified

    {"en":"While conventional tools like ps and lsof present isolated state data, witr correlates execution contexts to show the full launch hierarchy. Its interactive TUI and structured JSON output make process origin investigation straightforward for system diagnostics.","zh":"传统工具（如 ps、lsof、systemctl）仅列出当前的运行状态，而 witr 则侧重于分析因果关系，直观地展示进程、进程管理器、容器和 Shell 之间的调用链条。它不仅支持终端交互式 TUI，还能提供可供自动化脚本解析的结构化 JSON 数据。"}

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • how to use

    Verified

    {"steps":[{"en":"Run the quick installation script on Linux, macOS, or FreeBSD:","zh":"在 Linux、macOS 或 FreeBSD 系统上通过一键脚本完成安装："},{"en":"Install on Windows using PowerShell script:","zh":"在 Windows 系统上使用 PowerShell 脚本安装："},{"en":"Alternatively, install via Homebrew or other package managers:","zh":"也可以通过 Homebrew 或其他系统包管理器进行安装："},{"en":"Trace the launch origin by port number, process PID, or filename:","zh":"通过端口号、进程 PID 或文件名查询启动来源："},{"en":"Try the interactive TUI mode in the browser simulator:","zh":"在浏览器沙盒环境中直接模拟体验交互式 TUI 功能："}],"installAt":"unknown","difficulty":"unknown"}

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • intro

    Verified

    {"en":"witr is a diagnostic utility built to answer why a process, port, container, or file is active on a system. Instead of requiring manual correlation across ps, lsof, and systemctl, witr displays the multi-layered parent chain responsible for execution. It includes CLI execution, an interactive TUI dashboard, and machine-readable JSON support.","zh":"witr 是一个用于探究系统进程来源的诊断工具。当系统出现未知网络端口占用或异常后台进程时，witr 能够向上溯源，厘清由系统服务、脚本、容器或嵌套 Shell 构成的层级关系。它整合了原生命令行查询、终端图形化界面（TUI）以及浏览器免安装演示环境，协助开发者与系统管理员快速分析进程关联。"}

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • Latest release

    Verified

    v0.3.3

    Source: GitHub API · latest_release=v0.3.3 · 9/20/2026

  • License

    Verified

    Apache-2.0

    Source: GitHub API · license.spdx_id=Apache-2.0 · 9/20/2026

  • needs api key

    Verified

    No

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • One-liner

    Verified

    {"en":"Trace any running process, port, container, or file back to its originating parent chain","zh":"追溯进程、端口、容器和文件的完整启动链条与调用源头"}

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • Platforms

    Verified

    linux, macos, windows, browser

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • Category hint

    Inferred from materials

    ops-cloud

    Source: Project README · hint=ops-cloud · 8/18/2026

  • product forms

    Verified

    cli, web

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • role tags

    Verified

    devops

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • supports local

    Verified

    Yes

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

  • supports self host

    Verified

    Yes

    Source: admin_cms · cms editor · 9/8/2026

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