mactop

**Judgement:** A strong, focused skill for real-time hardware monitoring on Apple Silicon Macs, but tightly constrained by platform and tooling prerequisites. **What it does well** - Wraps `mactop` in TOON mode to expose a broad set of metrics: CPU/GPU usage, RAM (used/total), power draw, SoC temperature, thermal state, basic network I/O, and Thunderbolt bus info. - Produces concise, nicely formatted summaries (e.g., boxed readouts) that are ideal for quick status reports and conversational monitoring. - Read-only system inspection with no obvious privilege escalation paths, making it low-risk from a safety/security standpoint. **Key risks & limitations** - **Platform-locked:** Only useful on macOS with Apple Silicon; entirely non-functional on other OSes or Intel Macs. - **External dependency:** Requires `mactop` to be installed (`brew install mactop`) and accessible in `PATH`, plus `/usr/sbin` available for `sysctl`; missing or misconfigured dependencies will cause failures. - **Parsing fragility:** Relies on specific `mactop` TOON output lines (e.g., `cpu_usage:`, `SocTemp:`); format or key changes in future `mactop` versions could silently break parsing. - **Snapshot-only:** By default uses `--count 1`; it’s best suited for instant snapshots rather than continuous time-series monitoring unless you explicitly adjust `--count`/`--interval`. **Best-fit scenarios (recommended use)** - A user on an Apple Silicon Mac asks for **current system stats** (CPU/GPU usage, RAM consumption, temperature, or thermal state). - Assisting with **performance tuning or debugging** when a user suspects high load, overheating, or throttling on their Mac. - Providing **quick health dashboards** in text form (e.g., before/after a heavy task, or during remote support sessions). In other environments (non-macOS, Intel Macs, or systems without `mactop` installed), this skill should be considered unavailable and avoided in favor of more generic or platform-appropriate monitoring tools.